First Half of Phase 4 PRF Distributions Began December 16As promised, HRSA will begin distributing about half of the $17B in Phase 4 Provider Relief Fund (PRF) payments on December 16. HRSA indicates that more than 69,000 providers will receive Phase 4 payments and that 75% of applications have been processed. According to HRSA, Iowa will receive more than $85 million in provider relief dollars to 789 different providers thus far for Phase 4 PRF distributions. The remainder of Phase 4 PRF will be distributed in early 2022. Since early September, when the Phase 4 application was announced, aging services providers have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of these funds. The methodology for calculating the amounts of the Phase 4 distributions differs from prior general distributions. Of the $17 billion available for Phase 4, about 75% or $12.75 billion is set aside for the base payment and the remaining 25% ($4.25 billion) will be distributed as bonus payments. The Phase 4 payments are made up of these two components:
In total, the average payments that will be going out on December 16 are: $58,000 for small providers, $289,000 for medium providers and $1.7 million for large providers. The percentages of a provider's lost revenues and expenses due to coronavirus are disappointingly low given the tremendous needs of providers and the fact that these payments are based upon lost revenues and expenses between July 1, 2020, and March 31, 2021. The losses continue to mount for most providers. The percentages were determined after HRSA reviewed the applications assessing reported provider needs compared to the available PRF dollars. Translation, substantially more relief will be needed to help providers cover the mounting expenses and lost revenues resulting from the pandemic. It should also be noted that HRSA ensured that providers who had not received any prior PRF payments received 2% of their annual net patient revenues or their calculated base payment, whichever was greater. In another move toward equity, HRSA will deduct any previous PRF payments a provider may have received that were not deducted in Phase 3 before finalizing the base payment. “This will allow providers that have not recently benefitted from the Provider Relief Fund to receive greater financial support,” according to HRSA. HRSA has provided a state-by-state breakdown of the Phase 4 December payment distributions and number of providers in the state receiving those funds. A detailed listing of providers receiving Phase 4 payments will not be available until providers attest to the payments. As always, providers will have 90 days to attest to receipt of the payments and the corresponding Phase 4 terms and conditions. |