Nursing Homes Will Have to Wait Longer for Phase 4 PRF Disbursements

Skilled nursing facilities may not receive their much-needed Phase 4 disbursement of Provider Relief Funds (PRF) until the new year, with disbursements delayed through January, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) said.

Originally, skilled nursing operators expected to receive Phase 4 payments between mid-November and mid-December — and that timeframe has shifted to include the entire month of December and “continue through January 2022,” HRSA said on its provider application portal.

Rural payments are still scheduled to be released in November, HRSA added. In a September post via senior advocacy group LeadingAge, these payments were expected to be distributed at the end of the month, “likely before Thanksgiving,” barring payments for what HRSA considers more complex cases.

Providers had until the end of October to apply for $17 billion in Phase 4 funding, which was made available in September, along with $8.5 billion from the American Rescue Plan (ARP) put toward rural health care facilities and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

Phase 4 funding applies to a wider swath of providers who have seen COVID-19 affect their revenues and expenses; payments will be based on lost revenues and expenditures between July 1, 2020 and March 31.

Rural payments are only available for providers that take Medicare and Medicaid. ARP rural payments are based on reimbursement rates and reserved for patients that have a disproportionately greater and more complex medical need, in areas hit particularly hard by the pandemic.

“HRSA will send individual communications to providers when final payment decisions are made and is not able to respond to requests for updates on application status at this time,” HRSA said on its provider portal website.

Last week providers started receiving email notifications from HRSA suggesting financial reports be submitted by Nov. 30, the end of the 60-day reporting grace period.

Providers that already submitted necessary reports to receive PRF funds were notified of the reporting grace period by HRSA in addition to those that have yet to file, the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) said in a Nov. 18 blog post, an error on the part of the agency.