The American Hospital Association (AHA) is calling on CMS to re-evaluate payment options for hospitals that accepted accelerated Medicare payments at the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic.

1. Call now 888-357-3226 (Toll Free)
info@medicalbillersandcoders.com
www.medicalbillersandcoders.com
Copyright ©-2020 MBC. All Rights Reserved1
AHA wants improvements for Accelerated
Medicare Payments
The American Hospital Association (AHA) is calling on CMS to re-evaluate payment options for
hospitals that accepted accelerated Medicare payments at the early stage of the COVID-19
pandemic.
The hospital group requested CMS Administrator Seema Verma to allow all hospitals to elect to
receive periodic interim payments (PIP) or accelerated payments, per initial CMS
communications about the COVID-19 support option.
Thomas P. Nickels, AHA’s executive vice president, told CMS Administrator Seema Verma in an
Aug. 3rd letter: “For the past four months, PIP hospitals have had the expectation –
communicated by CMS – that their accelerated payment repayment would occur at final cost
settlement, which generally would be many months from now.”

2. Call now 888-357-3226 (Toll Free)
info@medicalbillersandcoders.com
www.medicalbillersandcoders.com
Copyright ©-2020 MBC. All Rights Reserved2
PIP hospitals receive Medicare reimbursement biweekly
Based on the facility’s estimate of Medicare payments for the current cost reporting period, PIP
hospitals are receiving Medicare reimbursement biweekly.
CMS expanded eligibility for accelerated Medicare payments to a broader set of hospitals,
health professionals, and suppliers during the COVID-19 public health emergency to help
financial losses.
According to AHA, CMS indicated during a call with hospitals in April that PIP hospitals would
get the accelerated Medicare payments in addition to their periodic payments and the
reconciliation process for the accelerated payments would occur at the final cost report process
for the first cost reporting after the repayment period.
The accelerated payment fact sheet written by CMS stated, “For the small subset of Part A
providers who receive Period Interim Payment (PIP), the accelerated payment reconciliation
process will happen at the final cost report process (180 days after the fiscal year closes).”
CMS has directed Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) to implement the same
repayment process for PIP hospitals as non-PIP hospitals, meaning PIP hospitals would have
their periodic payments held back until the accelerated Medicare payments were repaid,
recently communicated by MACs to AHA hospitals.
Thomas P. Nickels, AHA’s executive vice president wrote, “The result is that PIP hospitals will go
several months without any Medicare inpatient reimbursement, which is contrary to the entire
purpose of the PIP program – to provide hospitals with a steady and predictable revenue stream.
Moreover, hospital inpatient and outpatient volumes are down nearly 20% and 35%,
respectively, from 2019, and most do not expect volume to return to baseline levels in 2020.”
The AHA estimates an additional $120.5 billion in total financial losses from July 2020 through
December 2020 should hospitals and health systems reach baseline patient volumes by July

3. Call now 888-357-3226 (Toll Free)
info@medicalbillersandcoders.com
www.medicalbillersandcoders.com
Copyright ©-2020 MBC. All Rights Reserved3
2021, or an average of $20.1 billion per month. These estimates are in addition to the $202.6
billion in losses the AHA estimated between March 2020 and June 2020 bringing the total
projected losses to hospitals and health systems in 2020 to at least $323.1 billion.
The AHA is advocating for more flexible repayment options, the group is also urging CMS to
consider full forgiveness of accelerated payments for all hospitals.
Additionally, Nickels wrote in the letter: “Providers will continue to face historic challenges
throughout this extended public health emergency and beyond, as we expect the immense
financial strain facing hospitals and health systems due to COVID-19 will continue through at
least the end of 2020. Forgiving hospitals’ accelerated payments is necessary for providers to
recover and rebuild while delivering the care that patients and communities are depending on.”
About Medical Billers and Coders (MBC):
We at Medical Billers and Coders (MBC) catering to more than 40 specialties, we are proficient
in handling services that range from revenue cycle management to ICD-10 testing solutions. The
main goal of our organization is to assist physicians in looking for billers and coders.