On Saturday, March 28th, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it was expanding its pre-existing Accelerated and Advance Payment program. This program functionally offers a short-term business loan to eligible providers impacted by a natural disaster to accelerate their operational cash flow where their claims submissions and/or claims processing have been disrupted. In its current form, the program ensures that Medicare-participating healthcare providers will have access to expedited financial resources to continue operations while fighting the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
QUALIFICATIONS
In order to qualify, CMS requires applicants to apply for an advanced payment using an “Accelerated or Advance Payment Request Form” provided on each Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) website (monitor your MAC website for form updates). Medicare will start accepting and processing Accelerated and Advanced Payment requests immediately, given that the Provider meets the following qualifications:
PROCESS AND TIMELINE
In a fact sheet published along with the announcement, CMS noted that the expansion of this program is only for the duration of the COVID-19 public health emergency.
We recommend healthcare providers seek the advice of counsel and/or financial advisers regarding the relevance of this advanced payment opportunity to your business. abeo client’s wishing to have help in accessing this program should please reach out directly to your client service manager or to Tim Ruse, VP Client Business Services, at tim.ruse@abeo.com or 469.277.3678.
abeo will continue to monitor legislative updates aimed at lessening the financial hardships of providers during the COVID-19 health emergency. We stand ready to assist you in any way we can.
Additional Resources:
abeo Management Corporation (abeo) serves as a leading source of revenue cycle management and practice management with a specialization in anesthesia. The company leverages its people, processes, and software to serve independent practices, surgery centers, hospitals and healthcare systems with a scope of services that include billing, coding, transcription, practice management, and business consulting.