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This article was updated on May 3, 2022. By now, practices that received grants under the Provider Relief Funds (PRF) program are familiar with the process of reporting on those funds. Reporting on the initial round of funding that came in April – June 2020 (Period 1) was due by November 30, 2021. The second reporting period, for funds received July – December 2020 (Period 2), ended on March 31, 2022. However, the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) recently announced that providers will be able to submit a request to report late due to extenuating circumstances for any reporting period. The request deadline for Period 1 was April 22, 2022. A request for Period 2 must be made online by May 13, 2022.

This article was updated on October 28, 2021. In this article we note that the filing deadline was October 26, 2021. However, if you have submitted your tax identification number (TIN) for validation prior to that deadline, you will have until November 3, 2021 to submit a completed application. Physicians and other healthcare providers will be able to apply for additional grant funds from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) beginning on September 29, 2021. This distribution of funds is known as Phase 4 of the Provider Relief Fund (PRF) authorized by the CARES Act of 2020 in response to the COVID-19 public health emergency. Additional funds will be available under the American Rescue Plan (ARP) for providers who serve rural patients. Both aspects of the current distribution will be available through a single application process.

The COVID-19 pandemic spawned many programs designed to assist medical practices to stay afloat financially through the duration of the public health emergency. The terms and conditions of many of the various relief programs have changed since they were first introduced, and it often is a challenge to keep up with the latest rules. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has now announced another round of Provider Relief Funding (PRF) and the terms of the Medicare Accelerated and Advanced Payment Program have recently been modified.

Much has been written about the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and the complex rules for loan forgiveness, but there were other funding sources available early in the public health emergency that need to be revisited now. Our article in April outlined the HHS Grant Funds and another article discussed the Medicare Accelerated & Advance Payments Program.