All providers who received more than $10,000 in PRF funds between April 10 and June 30, 2020 are required to report their use of funds by November 30, 2021.
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) set an initial deadline for final submission of reporting for Provider Relief Fund (PRF) Reporting Period 1 on September 30, 2021. However, due to ongoing challenges providers were facing related to COVID-19, a grace period of 60 days was offered to providers through November 30, 2021, which is now only three weeks away. While the September 30 deadline did not technically change, recoupment of funds and other enforcement actions were delayed.
Providers must enter their information into the PRF Reporting Portal. Before you can begin reporting, you need to first register on the website. You must complete the registration in one session or you will be required to start the registration process again.
Eligible lost revenues and allowable COVID-related expenses incurred between January 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021 are able to be reported as a use of PRF funds. For more detail on what each section of the reporting portal requires, providers can visit the HRSA Reporting and Auditing webpage, which has many helpful links. Especially helpful are the Reporting Requirements, the PRF Portal Reporting User Guide, and the HRSA Excel Reporting Worksheets. The reporting requirements and user guide include definitions of many items required to be reported, while the worksheets will assist you in gathering all of the necessary information prior to beginning the submission process.
In some cases, the definitions may differ from what providers would normally expect. For example, when reporting expenses for wages and benefits attributable to Coronavirus, providers may expect to report wages and benefits for positions like RNs and STNAs in the “Healthcare Related expenses” category. However, all expenses related to personnel and fringe benefits are to be reported in the “General and Administrative expenses” category.
It is important to note that if you are not able to substantiate the use of all of the funds received through June 30, 2020, you will need to return any unused funds no later than December 30, 2021. The portal will assist you in calculating the amount of funds that you will need to return. It is important that you review this amount prior to submission and determine whether or not you agree with the calculation. Once you have begun the reporting process, you can save your information and return later, so taking the time to ensure that the information entered is complete and accurate is something that all providers should do. Should the portal show you owe funds back to HRSA, we highly recommend contacting an HW Healthcare Advisor prior to final submission to discuss whether any eligible lost revenues or expenses might have been missed in your initial information gathering.
Now is the time to act if you haven’t begun the PRF reporting process…
Do not wait until the few days before November 30 to begin compiling your information! If you have not already done so, please register and begin gathering your information as soon as possible and reach out to your HW Healthcare advisor with any questions that you might have. More information can also be found in previous articles on our website, including a description of the methods of calculating lost revenue, allowable COVID-related expenses, what to consider for future reporting periods, and other important tips.
Manager
miranda.bowden@hwco.cpa
