LeadingAge introduced two tools Wednesday to help long-term care operators better understand what help is available to them through the two federal COVID-19 relief bills recently signed into law: the Families First COVID Response Act and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act.

Developed by its partners at LeadingAge Wisconsin, one of the tools, COVID-19 Stimulus Bill Facility Impact Calculator with Part A, is specific to providers that bill Medicare Part A and includes certain advance payments and sequestration suspensions that apply to these providers. The other calculator, COVID 19 Stimulus Bill Facility Impact Calculator, looks just at the Small Business Association’s loan and forgiveness program

“With the bills being passed at the pace they were, and providers trying to keep pace with the regulatory, CDC, CMS and state-level changes, we felt like we needed to aid our members in navigating the stimulus programs by creating an easy-to-use tool that would quickly show them what the impacts would be on their organization,” Brent Rapos, vice president of financial and regulatory services at LeadingAge Wisconsin, told McKnights.

Rapos noted that the tools simply are an estimate of the potential effect based on a community’s inputs and that the analysis itself does not evaluate eligibility. He also encouraged providers to consider using funds from the loan forgiveness program for staff appreciation efforts.

“With workers in other industries receiving hazard pay, it is critical that we secure these funds to make sure that our front-line caregivers, the true heroes in all of this, are not forgotten for the lifesaving efforts that take on every day,” he said.

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