HHS Advises PRF Recipients to Register Now As It Revamps Reporting Requirements

Sometimes we can all use a little more time to get ready. Such is the case for recipients under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS’) Provider Relief Fund (PRF) planning to meet the agency’s reporting requirements.

Recently, HHS announced that because of the December passage of the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriation (CRRSA) Act (Pub. L. 116-260), the agency is updating its reporting requirements that comply with the new legislation. Therefore, PRF recipients will be required to submit their reports on the use of these funds later than originally planned. However, the agency is encouraging PRF recipients to begin registering now for gateway access to the agency’s reporting portal for submitting PRF data.

After the PRF program was created last spring under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) (Pub. L. 116-136), HHS planned to open by Jan. 15, 2021, the reporting portal for recipients of PRF funds that received payments exceeding $10,000 in aggregate, with the first deadline for submissions on Feb. 15, 2021. However, CRRSA added another $3 billion to the PRF program and included language specific to the reporting requirements.

While HHS noted that there was not an established deadline for PRF recipients to create an account in the new reporting portal, all providers will be required to complete this first step to meet their reporting requirements once HHS announces the new deadline to do so. The agency explained that the registration process will take at least 20 minutes to complete and must be completed in one session, so it encouraged recipients to have all the information required to register before they begin the process.

HHS also states that reporting entities that expended $750,000 or more in aggregated federal financial assistance during their fiscal year (including PRF payments and other federal financial assistance) are subject to single audit requirements, as set forth in HHS regulations at 45 C.F.R. §75.501. Reporting entities must indicate whether they are subject to single audit requirements during the current fiscal year, and if yes, whether the auditors selected PRF payments to be within the scope of the single audit (if known at the time the reporting entity submits its report).

More information about the new reporting requirements and access to register to the reporting portal are available here. PRF recipients may want to bookmark this site for future reference.

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