CMS Head Confirms Agency Is Holding Off On Recouping COVID-19 Loans From Providers
- September 21, 2020
Modern Healthcare (9/18, Cohrs, Livingston, Subscription Publication) reported CMS Administrator Seema Verma on Friday “confirmed the agency is holding off on garnishing providers’ Medicare payments amid congressional negotiations on repayment terms for the program’s COVID-19 loans.” The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act “expanded the Medicare Accelerated and Advance Payment Program in the spring and required CMS to begin garnishing 100% of loan recipients’ Medicare payments starting four months after the loans were issued.” The first loans “went out in April, and recoupment should have started in August.”