June 23, 2020
By Jennifer Garvin
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Washington — The ADA is encouraging eligible Medicaid and CHIP providers to apply as soon as possible to receive funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Enhanced Provider Relief Fund Payment Portal ahead of the department’s July 20 deadline.
Although HHS has indicated a future Dental Targeted Distribution Fund is in the works, the department stated in its FAQs that “dental providers should not have the expectation that there will be [an advantage] by applying for funds from one distribution over another” and that “dentists should apply for a Provider Relief Fund payment in the first Targeted Distribution in which they are eligible.”
HHS is also hosting a June 25 webinar at 2 p.m. EST to assist eligible Medicaid and CHIP providers with their applications.
The deadline to apply for relief funds from the Medicaid Targeted Distribution Fund is July 20. Regarding the Dental Targeted Distribution Fund, HHS said it “has not determined the methodology for the dental allocation at this time, but will share additional information in the future.”
The launch of the enhanced portal followed HHS’ June 9 announcement that said eligible Medicaid or Children’s Health Insurance Program dental providers may apply for relief fund payments. The payment to each provider will be at least 2% of reported gross revenue from patient care, and the final amount each provider receives will be determined after the data is submitted, including information about the number of Medicaid patients the provider serves, according to HHS.
Before applying to receive funding, HHS recommends providers first:
• Read the Medicaid Provider Distribution Instructions Form.
• Download the Medicaid Provider Distribution Application Form.
To be eligible for relief funds, applicants must meet all of the following requirements:
• Must not have received payment from the $50 billion General Distribution. This includes providers who have billed Medicare on a fee-for-service basis [Parts A or B] in 2019.
• Must have directly billed Medicaid for health care-related services during the period of Jan. 1, 2018, to Dec. 31, 2019, or own an included subsidiary that has billed Medicaid for health care-related services during the period of Jan. 1, 2018 to Dec. 31, 2019.
• Must either have filed a federal income tax return for fiscal years 2017, 2018 or 2019 or be an entity exempt from the federal income tax return filing requirement and have no beneficial owner who is required to file a federal income tax return (e.g. a state-owned hospital or health care clinic).
• Must have provided patient care after Jan. 31, 2020.
• Must not have permanently ceased providing patient care directly, or indirectly through included subsidiaries.
• Must have gross receipts or sales from providing patient care reported on Form 1040, Schedule C, Line 1, excluding income reported on a W-2 as a (statutory) employee if the applicant is filing as an individual.
The Provider Relief Fund was established by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act — known as the CARES Act — which directed $175 billion in relief funds to hospitals and other health care providers, particularly those impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the last two months, the Association has had several discussions with HHS and also sent an April 17 coalition letter with other dental stakeholders to HHS Secretary Alex Azar to make sure dentists were prioritized.
“While this portal only allows for Medicaid and CHIP providers to apply, the ADA is continuing to work with HHS to distribute additional provider relief funding more broadly to dentists,” ADA President Chad P. Gehani said in a June 10 Issues Alert email to members. “We are hopeful for continued progress in this area and plan to share more details when they become available.”
For additional information, visit cares.linkhealth.com and look under the Resources and Support tab.
For more information about the ADA’s advocacy efforts during COVID-19, visit ADA.org/COVID19Advocacy.