CMS Suspends Advance Payment Program

Agency is reevaluating the amounts that will be paid under its Accelerated Payment Program and has suspended its Advance Payment Program to Part B suppliers.

• By David Kopf
• Apr 30, 2020

CMS is reevaluating the amounts it will pay under its Accelerated Payment Program and has suspended its Advance Payment Program to Part B suppliers now that new funding is available to providers.

CMS made the decision after the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act (aka H.R. 266) became law, respectively adding $100 billion and $75 billion to the Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund (PHSSEF), as well as $50 billion for Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) and $10 billion for EIDL Advance grants.

CMS initially expanded these temporary loan programs to help providers respond to COVID-19. The Accelerated Payment Program and Advance Payment Program are intended to fund providers and suppliers when an emergency disrupts their claims submissions or processing and disrupts their cash flow.

Since expanding the programs on Mach 28, CMS approved more than 24,000 applications totaling $40.4 billion in payments for Part B suppliers, including doctors, non-physician practitioners and DME suppliers. It also approved more than 21,000 applications totaling $59.6 billion in payments to Part A providers, which includes hospitals.

The AAP programs are neither grants nor relief, and providers and suppliers must pay them back within one year.