HHS launched a wide-ranging new CARES Act Provider Relief Fund Application User Guide website (“User Guide Website”) and nine‑page FAQ document to assist Providers with navigating the new Provider Relief Fund Payment Portal (“Payment Portal”) that went live on Friday, April 24.
More information on the Payment Portal, the information Providers are required to submit through the Payment Portal and how that information will impact past and future payments from the Relief Fund is available in a separate Hall Render article available here.
The User Guide allows users to walk through a series of web pages that outline the process of requesting or confirming additional Relief Funds from the General Allocation. The FAQs provide additional information and details about the Payment Portal and the process for reporting requested data. HHS’s guidance recommends that the application should be completed by an organization’s CFO or accounting professional.
Based on this guidance, HHS has apparently chosen to determine various distributions based primarily on tax returns (or audited financials for government entities) and taxpayer identification numbers (“TIN” a/k/a “employer identification number” or “EIN”). The guidance incorporates tax reporting and return filing concepts as well as federal tax definitions of “gross receipts or sales” for sole proprietors, corporate and pass through organizations (Forms 1040 Schedule C, 1120, 1120-S, 1065 and 1120) and “program service revenue” for tax‑exempt organizations (Form 990). Apparently, distributions and reporting of revenues may be based on these measures. How that will apply in health care where gross receipts and net revenues are significantly different remains to be seen.
The guidance incorporates the concept of consolidated corporate income tax returns by recognizing that multiple Providers may have received distributions, but be included in one corporate parent income tax return, but have separate TINs. However, the tax‑exempt portion of the Provider universe generally cannot file consolidated Form 990s.
These tax reporting concepts are quite different than typical health care industry definitions of the net patient revenue and may result in very different amounts, especially when taking into account the many varied corporate and government enrollment structures many health care organizations deploy: multi-corporate structures; single corporation with multiple Providers; non-Provider (as defined by the CARES Act) operations housed within a single legal entity; EIN; etc. Providers should not rush to submit or verify data without first assessing how their existing operational and corporate structure, government program enrollment structure and prior tax reporting practices all correlate with the available guidance from HHS and the CARES Act statute.
Hall Render Relief Fund Briefing Document
Properly completing the application and subsequent reporting steps will require an understanding of how tax filings, corporate and Medicare enrollment structures interface with the CARES Act Fund guidance. To help with that process, Hall Render is preparing a Relief Fund Legal Briefing document that analyzes the available guidance about the CARES Act Provider Relief Fund. It will summarize the guidance and provide analysis of how it will apply to typical corporate and operational structures deployed in the health care industry.
All providers should consult with their legal counsel and financial advisors on how to comply with the HHS application and reporting obligations. The Relief Fund Legal Briefing is being made available for purchase for a flat fee of $750. If you are interested in purchasing your copy of the Hall Render Relief Fund Legal Briefing Document, click here and complete the simple information request. A Hall Render representative will follow up with you shortly.
Previous articles on the CARES Act Fund are available here:
- Latest Stimulus Bill Includes Over $100 Billion in Health Care Industry Relief;
- Updates on $100 Billion Health Care Relief Fund and Medicare APP;
- First Tranche of Payments from the $100B CARES Funding Relief Being Delivered; and
- CARES Act Relief Funding: Additional Tranches Announced.
If you have questions or would like additional information about this topic, please contact:
- David Snow at (303) 801-3536 or dsnow@wp.hallrender.com;
- Lori Wink at (414) 721-0456 or lwink@wp.hallrender.com;
- Joseph Krause at (414) 721-0906 or jkrause@wp.hallrender.com;
- Elizabeth Elias at (317) 977-1468 or eelias@wp.hallrender.com;
- Benjamin Fee at (720) 282-2030 or bfee@wp.hallrender.com; or
- Your regular Hall Render attorney.
Hall Render’s attorneys and professionals continue to maintain the most up-to-date information and resources at our COVID-19 Resource page, through our 24/7 COVID‑19 Hotline at (317) 429-3900 or by contacting your regular Hall Render attorney.
Hall Render blog posts and articles are intended for informational purposes only. For ethical reasons, Hall Render attorneys cannot—outside of an attorney-client relationship—answer specific questions that would be legal advice.
