The CARES Act appropriated $100 billion in relief funding. HHS will soon make targeted distributions to hospitals and other facilities that have been affected by the increased burden of caring for patients with COVID-19. *

For this targeted distribution, $10 billion has been allocated to hospitals in areas significantly impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak.

To inform how these funds are distributed, HHS is asking all hospitals to provide specific information via an authentication portal. The deadline for submission of such information has been extended to 3:00 PM ET, Saturday, April 25, 2020. HHS has advised that this extension will not delay the start of the distribution of these funds to high-impact areas which is scheduled to start the week of April 27th.

Each hospital is asked to provide:

  • Medicare Tax Identification Number (TIN)
  • Total number of intensive care unit beds as of April 10, 2020
  • Total number of admissions with a positive diagnosis for COVID-19 from January 1, 2020, to April 10, 2020.
  • National Provider Identifier

The authentication portal is live, and the process should not require more than ten minutes via a system that should be familiar to most hospitals. If it is unclear who within a specific hospital organization received this notification or if questions arise regarding the registration process, please contact TeleTracking Technical Support at 877-570-6903.

The requested information is necessary for HHS to determine which hospitals qualify for a targeted distribution. Hospitals must submit the information to receive this payment, although doing so is not a guarantee of eligibility. HHS will use the data it receives to distribute the targeted funds to hospitals where the impact from COVID-19 is greatest. The distribution will take into consideration the challenges faced by hospitals serving a significantly disproportionate number of low-income patients, as reflected by their Medicare Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) Adjustment.

Originally published by Butler Snow, April 2020

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