In guidance on the Provider Relief Fund (PRF) updated June 11, HHS gave hospitals and other providers more bread crumbs to follow in reporting their use of COVID-19 relief money and additional time to get it done.

Providers now have 90 days to report how they used PRF money instead of 30 days, according to the reporting requirements^[1] and related answers to frequently asked questions.^[2] HHS also explained that providers will be able to return unused funds through the reporting portal, said attorney Ahsin Azim, with King & Spalding in Washington, D.C.

“This is welcome news for providers,” Azim said. Before they were under pressure to spend all the PRF money by one hard-and-fast deadline regardless of when they received it. Now there are staggered deadlines for using the money and reporting how it was spent.^[3] Azim added that the PRF portal is only available for registration at the moment, but HHS indicated it will open for reporting July 1.

The updated reporting requirements are helpful in other ways, Azim said. For the first time, they explain the order in which to report the use of funds: interest earned on the PRF payment, other assistance received, use of skilled nursing facility and nursing facility infection control distributions, use of general and other targeted distribution money, net unreimbursed expenses attributed to COVID-19, and lost revenue attributed to COVID-19.