HHS Releases an Additional $24 Billion through CARES Act Provider Relief Fund

In welcome news to providers of Medicaid disability supports, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced it will begin distributing over $24 billion to providers that applied for Phase 3 funding from the CARES Act Provider Relief Fund earlier this fall.

As a refresher, HHS opened the application process for phase 3 funding on October 1, 2020, allowing providers that had applied to previous distributions to re-apply, as well as expanding eligibility to providers with organizations that were newly created in 2020. The deadline to apply was November 6, and funds from those applications are now being disbursed. While members can read the full announcement about funding disbursement here, we have copied the most relevant paragraph below:

“Payments to Phase 3 applicants will begin today and continue as application quality reviews and recipient payment set up are completed before payment can be made. A state-by-state breakdown on the first batch of Phase 3 payments can be found here – PDF. This data will be updated through January as Phase 3 payments are completed. It is important to note this state-by-state data is tied to the state in which a recipient’s IRS Tax Identification Number (TIN) is registered. It is possible recipients render health care services in states other than their listed TIN. After recipients attest to the terms and conditions for funding, they will be listed in the PRF public dataset.”