Provider Relief Fund General Information (FAQs)

Future General Distributions will take into account previous allocations, including General Distributions and Targeted Distributions. HHS may consider providers that have only received a Provider Relief Fund General Distribution for priority under future General Distributions.

Provider Relief Fund payments are being disbursed via both "General" and "Targeted" Distributions.

To be eligible for the General Distribution, a provider must have billed Medicare fee-for-service in 2019, be a known Medicaid and CHIP or dental provider and provide or provided after January 31, 2020 diagnoses, testing, or care for individuals with possible or actual cases of COVID-19, or prevented in the spread of COVID-19. HHS broadly views every patient as a possible case of  COVID-19.

A description of the eligibility for the announced Targeted Distributions can be found here. U.S. healthcare providers may be eligible for payments from future Targeted Distributions. Information on future distributions will be shared when publicly available.

All providers retaining funds must sign an attestation and accept the Terms and Conditions associated with payment.

Retention and use of these funds are subject to certain terms and conditions. If these terms and conditions are met, payments do not need to be repaid at a later date. These Terms and Conditions can be found on the For Providers page.

If you received a notice from the Provider Relief Fund that you had funds available, but did not take action within 90 days of the original payment issuance date, the payment is no longer available to you.  If it is past the 90-day period for a General Distribution payment, you may apply for a Phase 2 – General Distribution payment through the Provider Relief Attestation and Application Portal.  If it is within 90 days of the original payment issuance date, you must contact the Provider Support Line to reinitiate your ACH payment. In order to distribute the funds in a timely manner, it is important to maintain current ACH information.

Please refer to CMS FAQs on how Provider Relief Fund payments should be reported on cost reports.

Providers should contact the Provider Support Line at (866) 569-3522 (for TTY, dial 711), if they have questions about the status of their payment or application.  When calling, providers should have ready the last four digits of the recipient’s or applicant’s Tax Identification Number (TIN), the name of the recipient or applicant as it appears on the most recent tax filing, the mailing address for the recipient or applicant as it appears on the most recent tax filing, and the application number (begins with either “DS” or “CR”) if they have submitted an application in the Provider Relief Fund Payment Portal.

Yes. Hospitals and health systems in all states and territories eligible for Provider Relief Fund payments.

In order to ensure program integrity and transparency, HHS made Provider Relief Fund payments to healthcare providers based on the latest data available for a TIN.  As previous owners are not permitted to transfer funds to the new owner, they were instructed to return the funds to HHS.  At this time, HHS will not reissue returned payments to the new owners.  Providers that have not received payments under the Provider Relief Fund due to issues related to change of ownership will be eligible to apply for future allocations. Additional information will be posted on this website.

If a provider ceased operation as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, they are still eligible to receive Provider Relief Fund payments so long as they provided on or after January 31, 2020, diagnoses, testing, or care for individuals with possible or actual cases of COVID-19. HHS broadly views every patient as a possible case of COVID-19, therefore, care does not have to be specific to treating COVID-19.  Recipients of funding must still comply with the Terms and Conditions related to permissible uses of Provider Relief Fund payments.

There is no direct ban under the CARES Act on accepting a payment from the Provider Relief Fund and other sources, so long as the payment from the Provider Relief Fund is used only for permissible purposes and the recipient complies with the Terms and Conditions. By attesting to the Terms and Conditions, the recipient certifies that it will not use the payment to reimburse expenses or losses that have been reimbursed from other sources or that other sources are obligated to reimburse.

Payments from the Provider Relief Fund shall not be subject to the claims of the provider’s creditors and providers are limited in their ability to transfer Provider Relief Fund payments to their creditors.  A provider may utilize Provider Relief Fund payments to satisfy creditors’ claims, but only to the extent that such claims constitute eligible health care related expenses and lost revenues attributable to coronavirus and are made to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus, as set forth under the Terms and Conditions.

No. A payment to a business, even if the business is a sole proprietorship, does not qualify as a qualified disaster relief payment under section 139. The payment from the Provider Relief Fund is includible in gross income under section 61 of the Code. For more information, visit the Internal Revenue Services' website.

Generally, no. A health care provider that is described in section 501(c) of the Code generally is exempt from federal income taxation under section 501(a). Nonetheless, a payment received by a tax-exempt health care provider from the Provider Relief Fund may be subject to tax under section 511 if the payment reimburses the provider for expenses or lost revenue attributable to an unrelated trade or business as defined in section 513. For more information, visit the Internal Revenue Services' website.

HHS will allocate returned payments to future distributions of the Provider Relief Fund.

The CARES Act requires that providers meet certain terms and conditions if a provider retains a Provider Relief Fund payment. If a provider chooses to retain the funds, it must attest that it meet these terms and conditions of the payment. The CARES Act Provider Relief Fund Payment Attestation Portal will guide you through the attestation process to accept or reject the funds. Not returning the payment within 90 days of receipt will be viewed as acceptance of the Terms and Conditions. A provider must attest for each of the Provider Relief Fund distributions received.

Yes. The CARES Act Provider Relief Fund Payment Attestation Portal requires payment recipients to (1) confirm they received a payment and the specific payment amount that was received; and (2) agree to the Terms and Conditions of the payment.

If you affirmatively attested to a Provider Relief Fund payment already received and later wish to reject those funds and retract your attestation, you may do so by calling the provider support line at (866) 569-3522; for TTY dial 711. Note, HHS is posting a public list of providers and their payments once they attest to receiving the payment and agree to the Terms and Conditions.

Providers may return a payment by going into the attestation portal within 90 days of receiving payment and indicating they are rejecting the funds. The CARES Act Provider Relief Fund Payment Attestation Portal  or the Provider Relief Fund Application and Attestation Portal will guide providers through the attestation process to reject the funds.  Providers must return the payment within 15 calendar days of rejecting the payment.

To return the money, the provider needs to contact their financial institution and ask the institution to refuse the received Automated Clearing House (ACH) credit by initiating an ACH return using the ACH return code of "R23 - Credit Entry Refused by Receiver." If a provider received the money via ACH they must return the money via ACH. If a provider was paid via paper check, after rejecting the payment in the Payment Attestation Portal, the provider should destroy the check if not deposited or mail a paper check to UnitedHealth Group with notification of their request to return the funds.

If the provider received a payment via check and has not yet deposited it, destroy, shred, or securely dispose of it. If the provider has already deposited the check, mail a refund check for the full amount, payable to "UnitedHealth Group" to the address below. Please list the check number from the original Provider Relief Fund check in the memo.

UnitedHealth Group
Attention: CARES Act Provider Relief Fund
PO Box 31376
Salt Lake City, UT 84131-0376

Contact UnitedHealth Group's Provider Support Line at (866) 569-3522 (for TTY, dial 711).

No, HHS will not issue a new payment to a provider that received and then subsequently rejected and returned the original payment.  The provider may be considered for future distributions if it meets the eligibility criteria for that distribution.

All recipients receiving payments under the Provider Relief Fund will be required to comply with the Terms and Conditions. Some Terms and Conditions relate to the provider’s use of the funds, and thus they apply until the provider has exhausted these funds.  Other Terms and Conditions apply to a longer time period, for example, regarding maintaining all records pertaining to expenditures under the Provider Relief Fund payment for three years from the date of the final expenditure.

As explained in the notice of reporting requirements on the Provider Relief Fund website, reports on the use of Provider Relief Fund money must be submitted no later than July 31, 2021, and accordingly HHS expects that providers will fully expend their payments by that date. HHS will provide directions in the future about how to return unused funds. HHS reserves the right to audit Provider Relief Fund recipients in the future and collect any Relief Fund amounts that were used inappropriately. All payment recipients must attest to the Terms and Conditions, which require the submission of documentation to substantiate that these funds were used for increased healthcare related expenses or lost revenue attributable to coronavirus.

Yes. The parent entity must transfer a Provider Relief Fund Targeted Distribution payment to any or all subsidiaries that qualified for a Targeted Distribution payment. Control and use of the funds must be delegated to the entity that was eligible for the Targeted Distribution payment if a parent entity received the Targeted Distribution payment on the behalf of an eligible subsidiary, unless the funds were received as part of the Skilled Nursing Facility Targeted Distribution or Nursing Home Infection Control Distribution, in which case parent entities may distribute funds among those subsidiaries that were eligible for payment at its discretion. The purpose of Targeted Distribution payments is to support the specific financial needs of the eligible healthcare provider.

The parent entity should attest to the Terms and Conditions for the Targeted Distribution payment if it is the entity that received the payment. It may attest on behalf of any or all subsidiaries that qualified for a Targeted Distribution (i.e., Skilled Nursing Facility, Safety Net Hospital, Rural, Tribal, High Impact Area) payment. The parent entity must transfer a Provider Relief Fund Targeted Distribution payment to any or all subsidiaries that qualified for a Targeted Distribution (i.e., Skilled Nursing Facility, Safety Net Hospital, Rural, Tribal, High Impact Area) payment. Control and use of the funds must be delegated to the entity that was eligible for the Targeted Distribution payment if a parent entity received the Targeted Distribution payment on the behalf of an eligible subsidiary.

Until the purchase is complete, the organization should only report current gross receipts in its application and should exclude the practice it is intending to purchase. Any changes in ownership that have not occurred should not be included in your revenue submission. Submissions must be based on the organization that exists at the time of application, not a projection of expected lost revenue from the practice that is being acquired.

If the transaction is a purchase of the recipient entity (e.g., a purchase of its stock or membership interests), then the Provider Relief Fund recipient may continue to use the funds, regardless of its new owner. But if the transaction is an asset purchase (whether for some or all of the Provider Relief Fund recipient’s assets), then the original recipient must use the funds for its eligible expenses and lost revenues and return any unused funds to HHS. In these circumstances, the Provider Relief Fund money does not transfer to the buyer, however, buyers in these circumstances will be eligible to apply for future Provider Relief Fund payments. If a bankrupt recipient is liquidated, it must similarly use the funds for its eligible expenses and lost revenues and return any unused funds to HHS.

Yes. If, as a result of the sale of a practice/hospital, the TIN that received a Provider Relief Fund payment did not provide diagnoses, testing, or care for individuals with possible or actual cases of COVID-19 on or after January 31, 2020, the provider must reject the payment. The Provider Relief Fund Payment Attestation Portal will guide you through the attestation process to reject the payment.

No. A provider that sold its only practice or facility must reject the Provider Relief Fund payment because it cannot attest that it was providing diagnoses, testing, or care for individuals with possible or actual cases of COVID-19 on or after January 31, 2020, as required by the Terms and Conditions. Seller organizations should not transfer a payment received from HHS to another entity. If the current TIN owner has not yet received any payment from the Provider Relief Fund, it may still receive funds in other distributions.

No. The new TIN owner cannot accept the payment from another entity nor attest to the Terms and Conditions on behalf of the previous owner in order to retain the Provider Relief Fund payment. If the new TIN owner did not receive a direct payment under the Provider Relief Fund, it is not eligible to receive a payment under the General Distribution. However, the new TIN owner may still receive funds in other distributions.

If an organization that sold, terminated, transferred, or otherwise disposed of a provider that was included in its most recent tax return gross receipts or sales (or program services revenue) figure can attest to meeting the Terms and Conditions, it may accept the funds. The Terms and Conditions place restrictions on how the funds can be used.  In particular, all recipients will be required to substantiate that these funds were used for increased healthcare-related expenses or lost revenue attributable to coronavirus, and that those expenses or losses were not reimbursed from other sources and other sources were not obligated to reimburse them.

No. A provider may not return a portion of a Provider Relief Fund payment. If a provider that sold a practice that was included in its most recent tax return gross receipts or sales (or program services revenue) figure can attest to meeting the Terms and Conditions, it may accept the funds. The Terms and Conditions place restrictions on how the funds can be used. In particular, all recipients will be required to substantiate that these funds were used for increased healthcare-related expenses or lost revenue attributable to coronavirus, and that those expenses or losses were not reimbursed from other sources and other sources were not obligated to reimburse them.

The applying organization should complete an application by listing the Billing TINs of the eligible subsidiaries that provide or provided after January 31, 2020, diagnoses, testing or care for individuals with possible or actual cases of COVID-19. In the application, the parent entity should enter the sum of all “gross sales or receipts” or “program service revenue” of all eligible subsidiary entities that provide or provided after January 31, 2020, diagnoses, testing or care for individuals with possible or actual cases of COVID-19 and enter the subsidiaries’ Billing TINs in the applicable fields in the application form. Further, the parent entity should submit a statement on the first page of the uploaded tax return file stating (i) the parent entity’s Filing TIN and (ii) a schedule of the eligible subsidiaries, their Billing TINs, and gross sales or receipts. Any revenues from subsidiaries that are not directly providing diagnoses, testing, or care for individuals with possible or actual cases of COVID-19 may not be included.

No. The parent entity may not transfer a Provider Relief Fund Targeted Distribution payment from the recipient subsidiary to a subsidiary that did not receive the payment. Control and use of the funds must remain with the entity that received the Targeted Distribution payment. The purpose of Targeted Distribution payments is to support the specific financial needs of the payment recipient.

Yes, a parent organization can accept and allocate General Distribution funds at its discretion to its subsidiaries. The Terms and Conditions place restrictions on how the funds can be used. In particular, the parent organization will be required to substantiate that these funds were used for increased healthcare-related expenses or lost revenue attributable to COVID-19, and that those expenses or losses were not reimbursed from other sources and other sources were not obligated to reimburse them.

Yes, the parent organization with subsidiary billing TINs that received General Distribution payments may attest and keep the payments as long as providers associated with the parent organization were providing diagnoses, testing, or care for individuals with possible or actual cases of COVID-19 on or after January 31, 2020 and can otherwise attest to the Terms and Conditions. The parent organization can allocate funds at its discretion to its subsidiaries. If the parent organization would like to control and allocate Provider Relief Fund payments to its subsidiaries, the parent organization must attest to accepting its subsidiaries’ payments and agreeing to the Terms and Conditions.

Yes. The Terms and Conditions place restrictions on how the funds can be used. In particular, the parent organization will be required to substantiate that these funds were used for increased healthcare-related expenses or lost revenue attributable to COVID-19, and that those expenses or losses were not reimbursed from other sources and other sources were not obligated to reimburse them.

Provider Relief Fund General and Targeted Distribution payments (CFDA 93.498) and Uninsured Testing and Treatment reimbursement payments (CFDA 93.461) to non-Federal entities are Federal awards and must be included in determining whether an audit in accordance with 45 CFR Part 75, Subpart F is required (i.e., annual total federal awards expended are $750,000 or more).

Audit reports must be submitted electronically to the Federal Audit Clearinghouse.

(Requirements for audit of payments to commercial organizations are discussed in a separate question.)

Commercial organizations that receive $750,000 or more in annual awards have two options under 45 CFR 75.216(d) and 75.501(i): 1) a financial related audit of the award or awards conducted in accordance with Government Auditing Standards; or 2) an audit in conformance with the requirements of 45 CFR 75 Subpart F.

Provider Relief Fund General and Targeted Distribution payments (CFDA 93.498) and Uninsured Testing and Treatment reimbursement payments (CFDA 93.461) must be included in determining whether an audit in accordance in accordance with 45 CFR Subpart F is required (i.e., annual total awards received are $750,000 or more).

Audit reports of commercial organizations must be submitted directly to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Audit Resolution Division at AuditResolution@hhs.gov.

Yes. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in OMB M-20-26, Extension of Administrative Relief for Recipients and Applicants of Federal Financial Assistance Directly Impacted by the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) due to Loss of Operations, dated June 18, 2020, provided non-Federal entities extensions beyond the normal due date to submit audit reports.  Please see the OMB website to read the memoranda. Commercial organizations with questions about their ability to obtain extensions should email HRSA’s Division of Financial Integrity at SARFollowup@hrsa.gov.

Recipients of Provider Relief Fund payments do not need to submit a separate quarterly report to HHS or the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee. HHS will develop a report containing all information necessary for recipients of Provider Relief Fund payments to comply with this provision. For all providers who attest to receiving a Provider Relief Fund payment and agree to the Terms and Conditions (or retain such a payment for more than 90 days), HHS is posting the names of payment recipients and their payment amounts on its public website Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS). HHS is also working with the Department of Treasury to reflect the aggregate total of each recipient's attested to Provider Relief Fund payments on USAspending.gov. Posting these data meets the reporting requirements of the CARES Act. See Appendix A of OMB Memo M-20-21 [Implementation Guidance for Supplemental Funding Provided in Response to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)].

However, the Terms and Conditions for all Provider Relief Fund payments also require recipients to submit any reports requested by the Secretary that are necessary to allow HHS to ensure compliance with payment Terms and Conditions. HHS will be requiring recipients to submit future reports relating to the recipient's use of its PRF money. HHS will notify recipients of the content and due date(s) of such reports in the coming weeks.

The prohibition on balance billing applies to "all care for a presumptive or actual case of COVID-19." A presumptive case of COVID-19 is a case where a patient's medical record documentation supports a diagnosis of COVID-19, even if the patient does not have a positive in vitro diagnostic test result in his or her medical record. Dental providers who are not caring for patients with presumptive or actual cases of COVID-19 would not be subject to this provision.

No. As set forth in the Terms and Conditions, the prohibition on balance billing applies to “all care for a presumptive or actual case of COVID-19.”

The Terms and Conditions do not impose any limitations on the ability of a provider to submit a claim for payment to the patient's insurance company. However, an out-of-network provider delivering COVID-19-related care to an insured patient may not seek to collect from the patient out-of-pocket expenses, including deductibles, copayments, or balance billing, in an amount greater than what the patient would have otherwise been required to pay if the care had been provided by an in-network provider.

A presumptive case of COVID-19 is a case where a patient's medical record documentation supports a diagnosis of COVID-19, even if the patient does not have a positive in vitro diagnostic test result in his or her medical record.

Providers accepting the Provider Relief Fund payment should submit a claim to the patient's health insurer for their services. Most health insurers have publicly stated their commitment to reimbursing out-of-network providers that treat health plan members for COVID-19-related care at the insurer's prevailing in-network rate. If the health insurer is not willing to do so, the out-of-network provider may seek to collect from the patient out-of-pocket expenses, including deductibles, copayments, or balance billing, in an amount that is no greater than what the patient would have otherwise been required to pay if the care had been provided by an in-network provider.

HHS will apportion relief funds to US healthcare providers with the intention of optimizing the beneficial impact of the funds.

HHS is not taking direct inquiries from providers, and no remedy or appeals process will be available. For additional information, please call the provider support line at (866) 569-3522 (for TTY, dial 711).

There is no appeals or dispute process.

HHS has posted a public list of providers and their payments once they attest to receiving the money and agree to the Terms and Conditions. All providers that received a payment from the Provider Relief Fund and retain that payment for at least 90 days without rejecting the funds are deemed to have accepted the Terms and Conditions. Providers that affirmatively attest through the Payment Attestation Portal or that retain the funds past 90 days, but do not attest, will be included in the public release of providers and payments. The list includes current total amounts attested to by providers from each of the Provider Relief Fund distributions, including the General Distribution and Targeted Distributions.

The Provider Relief Fund data represent providers that received one or more payments from the Provider Relief Fund and that have attested to receiving at least one payment and agreed to the associated Terms and Conditions. If a provider has received more than one payment but has not accepted all of the payments (by attesting and agreeing to the Terms and Conditions), only the dollar amount associated with the accepted payment or payments will appear. These data displayed on the website will be updated biweekly.

Provider Relief Fund payments are being made to providers or groups of providers that are organized within a Tax Identification Number (TIN). The information displayed is of providers by billing TIN that have received at least one payment, which they have attested to, and the address associated with that billing TIN. Providers will not be listed if they have not yet attested to the payment terms and conditions or if they are within a larger billing entity that received payment. In addition, the address listed for the billing TIN often corresponds with the billing location (based on CMS's Provider Enrollment, Chain, and Ownership System (PECOS)), and may not align with the physical location of a health care practice site. Updated data will be made available on the the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) website.

HHS does not have plans to include additional data fields in the public list of providers and payments.

No. To ensure transparency, HHS will publish the names of payment recipients and the amounts accepted and attested to by the payment recipient.