Rep. Cuellar Announces Over $2 Billion in Federal Funds for Texas Health Care Providers
Written by Post Public Information Representative, Apr 13, 2020, 0 Comments
Courtesy Charlotte Larecy,
Funding Will Immediately Help Hospitals and other Health Care Providers on the Front Lines of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Laredo, TX—Congressman Henry Cuellar (TX-28) announces $2,089,066,452 for 24,307 health care providers in Texas. This funding, awarded through the CARES Act, will be used to help hospitals pay for the incurred costs of combating the coronavirus pandemic, such as buying more supplies, paying for overtime, and financing healthcare-related expenses of uninsured Americans who receive testing and treatment.
“America’s health care providers are absolutely critical in responding to this crisis,” said Congressman Cuellar. “This federal investment will help them treat uninsured Americans, maintain a strong workforce, buy critical supplies, and keep their doors open during this emergency. I will continue to actively monitor the allocation of these funds to ensure hospitals, doctors, and nurses in South Texas are prioritized for this federal assistance. As a senior Appropriator, I am committed to fighting for our medical providers and personnel so they can take the necessary steps to battle this virus.”
The CARES Act allocated a total of $100 billion for health care providers. The Department of Health and Human Services today distributed $30 billion of the $100 billion to hospitals across the country. Facilities and providers are allotted a portion of the $30 billion based on their share of 2019 Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) reimbursements. These are payments, not loans, to healthcare providers, and will not need to be repaid.
To expedite providers getting money as quickly as possible, $30 billion is being distributed immediately proportionate to providers’ share of Medicare fee-for- service reimbursements in 2019.
These initial payments will begin being delivered on April 10, with $26 of the $30 billion expected to be delivered to providers’ bank accounts that day.
Via a provider portal that will open up the week of April 13, providers will simply have to sign an attestation confirming receipt of funds and agree to the terms and conditions of payment within 30 days.
As a condition to receiving these funds, providers must agree not to seek collection of out-of-pocket payments from a COVID-19 patient that are greater than what the patient would have otherwise been required to pay if the care had been provided by an in-network provider.
This quick dispersal of funds will provide relief to both providers in COVID hotspot areas and those providers who are struggling to keep their doors open due to cancelled elective services.
HHS and the Administration are rapidly working on future targeted distributions to hospitals and providers that will focus on providers in hotspot COVID areas, rural providers, and providers with lower shares of Medicare reimbursement or who predominantly serve the Medicaid population.
