September 13, 2021 4:08 pm Practice Finances HHS Announces Additional $25.5 Billion in Provider Funding The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services last Friday announced a new round of $25.5 billion in funding for providers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The funds are made up of $8.5 billion from the American Rescue Plan for providers serving rural Medicaid, CHIP, or Medicare patients, and $17 billion for Phase 4 of the Provider Relief Fund (PRF) for providers with lost revenue and other expenses due to the pandemic. HHS also announced a 60-day grace period for providers who fail to meet the September 30, 2021, deadline for the first PRF reporting time period. The application portal for these new funds opens on Sept. 29; to learn more about eligibility and the application process, click here. News & Knowledge All Curi recommendations are based on current CDC criteria at the time of publication. CDC guidance for SARS-CoV-2 infection may, or may not, be adopted by state and local health departments to respond to rapidly changing local circumstances. Providers should always check with their local health department to see if the CDC’s guidance on any given topic has been modified (particularly if more restrictive) from the CDC’s recommended guidelines. Follow this link https://www.cdc.gov/publichealthgateway/healthdirectories/index.html for contact information to your state/local health department. If local recommendations vary from those of the CDC, and you are unsure what recommendations to follow, then it is safer to follow the more restrictive guidelines/recommendations.