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Calling the federal government’s methodology for determining COVID-19 relief payments “unconscionable,” one senior living association said it amounts to “a slap in the face” to caregivers.

A day after the Department of Health and Human Services and its Health Resources & Services Administration announced the coming distribution of $9 billion in Phase 4 Provider Relief Fund monies to healthcare providers, Argentum called out the federal government for making “grossly low” payments to assisted living providers.

“Not only has HHS / HRSA not targeted relief for those caring for the aging and chronically ill who live in senior living communities, it is lowballing the payments that will be made, effectively using a methodology that pays out only 20% to account for the COVID-related losses for providers,” Argentum President and CEO James Balda said. “We want corrections to what amount to egregious mistakes that will likely result in senior living communities having to close unless they receive equitable federal relief.”

LeadingAge also stated its disappointment over the “inadequacy” of the relief dollars, noting that the Phase 4 funding will cover only 45% of small providers’ lost revenues and coronavirus expenses between July 1, 2020, and March 31, 2021. For medium-sized providers, that figure drops to 25%, and for large providers, it’s 20%.

“Some nursing homes, assisted living, home care and community-based service providers have been pushed to the financial brink,” a LeadingAge spokeswoman told McKnight’s Senior Living, adding that “enormous outstanding needs” may force some providers to close their doors and disrupt services that older adults and their families rely on.

Pandemic losses

Argentum estimates that senior living caregivers have lost $30 billion during the pandemic due to increased costs for staffing, supplies and equipment as well as reconfigured building space and infrastructure and lost revenue from lower occupancy. 

The association’s director of government relations, Dan Samson, said that assisted living operators experienced far greater losses during the Phase 4 quarters than during the Phase 3 quarters, when losses were covered at up to 88%. In addition, other providers that submit claims related to Medicare, Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program may be eligible for bonus payments, which very few assisted living providers can access.

“We believe this is wrong and not the intention of the relief, since assisted living providers exclusively serve Medicare beneficiaries,” Samson told McKnight’s Senior Living.

Looking outside the box

American Seniors Housing Association President David Schless said that although the relief amount is “frustrating and disappointing” given the “outsized role” the industry has played throughout the COVID crisis, there was no expectation that assisted living operators were going to be made whole for their COVID-related losses and expenses incurred in the second half of 2020 and the first quarter of 2021.

“We were well aware there was a limited amount of funding that was being made available to the entire universe of providers — 69,000 — in the Phase 4 Provider Relief Fund allocation,” Schless told McKnight’s Senior Living

ASHA’s legislative priority, he said, is to find additional targeted financial relief for the industry. He said he expects that additional funds from the American Rescue Plan will be made available to assisted living providers through states as pressure mounts to develop plans to dole out those dollars.

Balda pointed out that the pandemic is not over and said that there “appears to be a fundamental misunderstanding of the needs of the long-term care continuum throughout the crisis” on the part of the federal government.

“The Biden administration has had ample opportunity and the resources provided by Congress to do the right thing and prioritize senior living for COVID relief dollars,” he said. “We strongly believe that the administration is not listening to the needs of seniors, nor the results of national polls which show widespread support across party lines for supporting senior living with adequate COVID relief.”

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