Information you will need if you participated in the COVID Accelerated/Advance Payment

There is some good news for providers who requested and received Medicare advance payments.

H.R. 8337 Continuing Appropriates Act, 2021, and other Extensions Act states made some changes for repayment for of the Accelerated/Advance Payment that was offered to providers.

The changes are:

1. The automatic payments will be extended to now begin one year after the date the accelerated/advanced payment was received. These payments will be made by recoupment:
- a) During the first 11 months after repayments begin, the recoupment rate (the amount that will be taken from payments owed to you) will be 25%. (This means 25% of the total payment owed to you will be recouped)
- b) At the end of the 11-month period, the rate will increase from 25% to 50%, this recoupment will continue for six (6) months
- c) By the end of the 29th month of recoupment, if the total amount of the payment that was received by the provider, has not been recovered, then a demand letter will be issued for the balance. The demand amount will be subject to a 4% interest rate.
2. In addition to this updated information, the anticipated 10% or more interest rate, appears to have been waived. It looks interest is waived, unless repayment continues beyond 29 months from the payments.

Please see the summary of the bill and the bill in full.

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/116/hr8337/summary

https://media.wix.com/ugd/4caebf_fcd17e0862434a8abcc3c830a314e98a.pdf

Wendy Samuels

Wendy Samuels is a Certified Professional Coder with the American Academy of Professional Coders and has more than 20 years of healthcare experience. Her expertise is heavily rooted in auditing charts to safeguard compliance and ensuring physicians receive the highest reimbursement allowed. Much of her work in the healthcare field has been concentrated in anesthesia, durable medical equipment, general practice, and E/M coding and documentation. Furthermore, Wendy has been a Medical Billing and Coding instructor for over 10 years. She actively engages in the professional coding community by having a seat on the advisory board which oversees developing coding curriculums for colleges desiring to start a medical billing and coding program. Wendy’s opinion is both sought after and respected