Chicago healthcare associate Tim Fry spoke with Healthcare Dive about the money promised to healthcare providers in 2020 by the federal government and why many providers are still waiting for their relief funds.
The May 11, 2021 article details the ways in which the funds were initially dispersed to providers quickly, but as the COVID-19 crisis dragged on into the fall of 2020 and winter of 2021, promised funds slowed.
H.R. 133, the year-end spending package passed by Congress in December 2020, stipulates that U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) disburse another distribution of funds that takes into account COVID-19’s impact on providers through the end of 2020 and the first quarter of 2021.
Fry said that providers have been in “wait and see” mode, with many left to wonder whether funds would show up. Since the article’s publication, members of the U.S. House of Representatives urged HHS to provide the remaining funds to providers quickly.