U.S. SENATE — U.S. Senator Steve Daines is urging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra to distribute funds remaining in the Provider Relief Fund without delay to support health care providers in Montana who continue to respond to the challenges posed by COVID-19.
“We write today to ask that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) provide an immediate update on its plans to distribute the unobligated funds remaining in the Provider Relief Fund (PRF) and other health care relief programs,” the letter states. “Over the course of the pandemic, Congress has appropriated $178 billion for the Provider Relief Fund as well as an additional $8.5 billion for rural providers. Hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living providers, health clinics, and other health care providers need these funds to help weather the financial difficulties created by the pandemic. In rural areas in particular, the PRF has prevented facilities that struggled before and during the pandemic from falling into bankruptcy or closing entirely.”
On July 19, the Government Accountability Office reported that about 25 percent of Provider Relief Fund appropriations and all of the rural provider funding remained unobligated as of May 31, 2021.
Read the letter HERE.
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Contact: Katherine McKeogh, Katie Schoettler