VGM Government Relations Blog

The deadline for small businesses to apply for a Paycheck Protection Program loan has been extended through August 8th. The program has already provided small businesses around the country with over $500B in forgivable loans. The original deadline to apply for a loan was June 30, but as of that date, there were still over $130B left over in available funding for the popular program. On Saturday, July 4th, President Trump signed a bill that would extend the application deadline to August 8th. Any...

On Monday, June 29, HHS Spokesperson Michael Caputo tweeted “…@HHSGov expects to renew the Public Health Emergency due to COVID-19 before it expires. We have already renewed this PHE once…” The COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) was initially declared on January 31, 2020 (with acknowledgement that it has existed since January 27th). Any PHE declaration can only last for 90 days at a time, but can be extended or renewed. The COVID-19 was already renewed once in...

The SBA has announced that their Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) are once again available to ALL businesses. With the passage of the CARES Act, these loans were modified slightly to include a forgivable advance payment of up to $10,000. Initially, there was a finite amount of funding set aside to cover these forgivable advances, and that funding ran out. The program later received additional funding, meaning the advance payments were available again, but the SBA then made the EIDL program...

Please make sure your state licensing and any other information related to your Medicare billing supplier number (PTAN) is up to date and current in PECOS. According to the attached article, “CMS cannot award a contract to any bidder for a CBA and product category combination (competition) unless the bidder meets all applicable state licensing requirements.” 

It is also important to make sure the contact information in the portal is correct to ensure that you are receiving...

In a recent update from CMS, plans were announced for a virtual Medicare Evidence Development & Coverage Advisory Committee (MEDCAC) meeting on 7/22/20 to review evidence on the use of non-invasive positive pressure ventilation by patients with chronic respiratory failure (CRF) as a consequence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

CMS is seeking the MEDCAC’s recommendations regarding the characteristics that define patient selection and usage criteria, concomitant...

HHS has announced an additional $15B in relief fund distributions from the Provider Relief Fund, which will be made available to eligible providers that participate in state Medicaid and CHIP programs. Providers who have previously received a payment from the Provider Relief Fund General Allocation will not be eligible for this next round of funding. To be eligible for this funding, health care providers...

The Senate unanimously passed, by voice vote, the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act (H.R. 7010), which seeks to improve the PPP and allow more flexibility for small businesses using the rescue loan funds. 

The bill was approved by the House on Thursday, May 28, by a 417-1 vote and has now been signed into law by President Trump.  

The legislation makes several changes to the Paycheck Protection Program for current borrowers, including...

The bill that was passed by the House last week that would make significant changes to the Paycheck Protection Program has now passed the Senate as well. It will now go to President Trump for signature. If the bill is signed in its current state, PPP loan recipients will now have nearly 6 months (24 weeks) to utilize the funds they receive, which is three times longer than the 8 weeks they initially had to spend the money in order to qualify for loan forgiveness. Recipients will also only have...

Healthcare providers who received HHS relief payment initially had 30 days to sign an attestation form which signaled they were agreeing to the Terms and Conditions and were keeping the payment they received. That 30 day window to sign the attestation form was later extended to 45 days, and on May 22 HHS extended that window even further, now allowing providers 90 days from the date they received a payment to accept HHS Terms and Conditions or return the funds.

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Those of you who received a payment from HHS between April 10 and April 24th (the payments that were automatically sent to you, that you didn’t ask for or apply for) are able to apply for a second round of HHS Relief Payments. In fact, ONLY companies that received Round 1 HHS relief payments can apply for Round 2. I’ve included a few links below that are pertinent to the Round 2 application process. You need to complete the attestation process for Round 1 before you can apply for Round...