Ask your US Senator and Congressional Representative to urge the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to reinstate the previous COVID-19 Provider Relief Fund reporting requirements.

Please contact Senator Martha McSally and Senator Kyrsten Sinema and your U.S. Representatives today and ask them to urge the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to reinstate the previous COVID-19 Provider Relief Fund reporting requirements. These requirements were outlined in HHS’s June 19 FAQ that defined both expenses and lost revenues attributable to COVID-19.[1] The June requirements, which stated that lost revenue was any revenue that a health care provider lost due to COVID-19, should replace those outlined in HHS’s September 19 notice.

It is important that you contact your lawmakers – especially Republican senators and representatives – today. Our federal partners at the American Hospital Association have determined this new definition will require many hospitals, especially those in rural areas and serving vulnerable communities, to return provider relief funds based on a new formula and set of metrics that are simply unfair and unrealistic. Please share with your lawmakers how the sudden definition change is extremely problematic for your hospital, not only for planning and budgeting, but also for accounting, auditing and bond rating purposes.

AzHHA is also reaching out to Arizona’s congressional delegation, but it is imperative that they hear directly from their constituent hospitals. Please don’t hesitate to contact Debbie Johnston at [email protected] if you have any questions.

[1] HHS stated that hospitals could “use any reasonable method of estimating the revenue during March and April 2020 compared to the same period had COVID-19 not appeared. For example, if [hospitals had prepared a budget] without taking into account the impact of COVID-19, the estimated lost revenue could be the difference between … budgeted revenue and actual revenue. It also would be reasonable to compare the revenues to the same period last year.”