“Healthcare providers and suppliers throughout the country can start receiving accelerated and advance payments from the Medicare program to offer emergency funding and address cash flow issues caused by COVID-19 disruptions.”
“Over the weekend, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced it is expanding its accelerated and advance payment program for Medicare (PDF) providers based on historical payments when there is a disruption in claims submission and/or claims processing to ensure they have the resources to fight COVID-19.”
“The expedited payments are typically offered in natural disasters to accelerate cash flow to the impacted healthcare providers and suppliers, officials said. But, in this situation, CMS is expanding the program for all Medicare providers throughout the country. The payments can be requested by hospitals, doctors, durable medical equipment suppliers and other Medicare Part A and Part B providers and suppliers.”
“The expansion comes as the industry has seen great disruption, with providers being asked to delay revenue-generating but nonessential surgeries and procedures even as healthcare staff are unable to work due to childcare demands, billing has been disrupted and expenses have risen…”
“It’s among a number of areas of regulatory relief CMS has extended in recent days as providers face the growing tide of COVID-19 patients. For instance, the Trump administration extended the deadlines for quality reporting and applications for providers in value-based care programs and announced it will not use any quality data on services from Jan. 1 through June 30 in the agency’s calculations for quality reporting and value-based purchasing programs…” Read the full article here.
Source: Medicare will accelerate payments to providers and suppliers, CMS announces – By Tina Reed, March 30, 2020. FierceHealthcare.
