June Archives

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...

HHS is currently distributing $15 billion through their Provider Relief Fund to Medicaid/CHIP providers who did not receive any payments through the $50 billion General Distribution. The deadline to apply for the Medicaid/CHIP relief payment is July 20th. HHS is hosting two upcoming webinars to discuss this Medicaid/CHIP payment distribution. The dates, times, and registration links for those webinars can be found below. When you register, there is also a comment field where you...

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...