COVID-19: HHS unveils $4 billion in healthcare provider relief payments

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is providing money to safety net hospitals, and certain rural care providers and providers in small metropolitan areas.

According to a press release, HHS, through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), revealed that approximately $3 billion in funding to hospitals serving a large percentage of vulnerable populations on thin margins and approximately $1 billion to specialty rural hospitals, urban hospitals with certain rural Medicare designations, and hospitals in small metropolitan areas.

In the statement, HHS said it recognizes the urgent need these vital funds play in supporting safety net providers and those serving large rural populations facing financial devastation catalyzed by the pandemic.

"We've been distributing the Provider Relief Funds as quickly as possible to those providers who have been hardest hit by the pandemic," HHS Secretary Alex Azar said in the statement.

Azar added that “close work with stakeholders informed how we targeted this new round of funds to hard-hit safety-net and rural providers."

As COVID-19 continues to disrupt daily lives, HHS is providing support to healthcare providers fighting the pandemic through the bipartisan CARES Act and the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act, which allocated $175 billion in relief funds to hospitals and other healthcare providers, including those disproportionately impacted by this pandemic.

This round of funding will include $3 billion that will go to safety net hospitals excluded from a June 9 distribution of $10 billion in Provider Relief Funds after they didn’t qualify for the relief.

The additional $1 billion in funds will be distributed to special rural Medicare facilities as well as some who are providing care in smaller non-rural areas.

According to the relief, HHS said the funds would be dispersed in payments ranging from $100,000 to $4.5 million to 500 of such facilities.