April 12, 2022

 By: Mary H. Rose

Health care providers who received Provider Relief Funds under the CARES Act during Period 1 (April 10, 2020 to June 30, 2020) were required to use the funds by June 30, 2021 and submit a report to the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) regarding use of the funds by September 30, 2021.

On March 10, 2022, HRSA sent notices to approximately 10,000 providers who failed to meet the report deadline. The notices demanded that the funds received be returned to HRSA within 30 days. Due to strong pushback from the industry, HRSA has announced that non-compliant providers will now be given an opportunity to request extension of the report deadline due to “extenuating circumstances.”

The request for an extension must include an attestation that one of the following allowable extenuating circumstances applied at the time of the original report deadline:

• Severe illness or death
• Impacted by natural disaster
• An incorrect email or mailing address from HRSA that hindered the provider’s ability to submit by the deadline
• The provider registered and prepared a report but did not hit “submit”
• An internal miscommunication or error
• A provider’s parent organization completed all general distribution payments, but targeted distribution was not provided by the subsidiary

A request for extension of the Period 1 report deadline must be submitted to HRSA by Friday, April 22, 2022 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time. The form for the request, as well as more detailed descriptions of the allowable extenuating circumstances, is available HERE.

A provider who submits a request for late reporting will be notified by HRSA if its request is approved or denied. If the request is approved, the provider will have 10 days from the date of receipt of the notice within which to submit a report through the Provider Relief Fund reporting portal.

The dates for submission of requests for extension of the report deadline for periods after Period 1 have not yet been announced.

This communication is not intended to create or constitute, nor does it create or constitute, an attorney-client or any other legal relationship. No statement in this communication constitutes legal advice nor should any communication herein be construed, relied upon, or interpreted as legal advice. This communication is for general information purposes only regarding recent legal developments of interest, and is not a substitute for legal counsel on any subject matter. No reader should act or refrain from acting on the basis of any information included herein without seeking appropriate legal advice on the particular facts and circumstances affecting that reader. For more information, visit www.buchalter.com.