With the expanded eligibility of the Medicare Accelerated Payment Program, additional entities will now qualify for, essentially, an interest-free loan. Within the CARES Act, physicians and other Medicare Part B Suppliers are now eligible to receive a needed increase to cash flow during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Supplier is a physician or other practitioner that delivers health care services under Medicare, excluding a provider).
Qualification
To receive accelerated payments, the physician, hospital or other Part B supplier must meet the following three criteria, in addition to have billed Medicare in the past six months:
- Not in bankruptcy,
- Not under active medical review or program integrity investigation; and
- No outstanding delinquent Medicare over-payments.
Loan Amount Determination
The amount of the payment for most radiologists will be up to 100% of their historical Medicare payment amount for a three-month period.
Repayment Time frame
- The amount must be fully repaid within 210 days after advance while beginning at day 120 from the date that the advanced payment was received. One hundred percent of claims will be withheld to pay back the loan until the owed balance is zero.
- If your level of service does not recover enough to repay, you will be writing a check to Medicare.
How Quickly Will Funds Be Delivered?
Each Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) is working on an expedited review processing time. Eligible applicants will receive the funds within seven business days of the MAC receiving the request.
The complete CMS fact sheet has more details on all facets of the Accelerated and Advance Payments Program. Please continue to check our blog for future updates on COVID-19 related relief efforts that may impact your
practice.
Rebecca Farrington is the Chief Revenue Officer at Healthcare Administrative Partners.
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