Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

If you have unspent Provider Relief Funds (PRF), you may not have to necessarily stop spending them just because the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) has ended.

Scoop: In recent guidance, the HHS Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) addresses “the use of PRF and [American Rescue Plan] Rural payments for lost revenues after the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency ends.”

HRSA clarifies that “PRF and ARP Rural recipients must use payments for eligible expenses, including services rendered during the period of availability, as outlined in Table 1.” That table adds two new Reporting Periods, RP 8 and RP 9.

For RP 8, providers that receive payments from July 1, 2023 to Dec. 31, 2023 can pay for eligible expenses through Dec. 31, 2024. For RP 9, providers that receive funds from Jan. 1, 2024 to June 30, 2024 can pay for eligible expenses through Dec. 31, 2025, HRSA indicates.

These timeframes indicate there may be future PRF payments still in store.

“PRF and ARP Rural recipients may also use payments for lost revenues attributable to COVID-19 incurred within the period of availability, but only up to June 30, 2023, the end of the quarter in which the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency ends,” the updated guidance adds.

RP 8’s reporting period runs from Jan. 1, 2025 to March 31, 2025, while RP 9’s spans July 1, 2025 to Sept. 30, 2025.

Check out the new guidance at www.hrsa.gov/sites/default/files/hrsa/provider-relief/prf-arp-rural-post-payment-notice-reporting-requirements.pdf.