Advocacy Information

U.S. President Biden’s National Strategy for COVID-19 (January 22, 2021)
CARES Act Provider Relief Fund Frequently Asked Questions (Updated January 12, 2021)
HHS Announces New Laboratory Data Reporting Guidance for COVID-19 Testing
Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Policy and Regulatory Revisions in Response to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency
New COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on Medicare Fee-for-Service Billing
Fact Sheet for State and Local Governments – CMS Programs & Payment for Care in Hospital Alternate Care Sites
April 30, 2020, CMS released the Interim Final Rule with Comment titled “Additional Policy and Regulatory Revisions in Response to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency and Delay of Certain Reporting Requirements for the Skilled Nursing Facility Quality Reporting Program,” along with announcing additional flexibilities. An excerpt from the press release is below, and additional materials are available at these links:
Full Press Release
Fact Sheet
Updated list of Blanket Waivers
CMS Waivers and Guidance Page

ASE/Alliance of Specialty Medicine coalition regarding Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Policy and Regulatory Revisions in Response to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (April 20, 2020)

ASE/Alliance of Specialty Medicine coalition letter regarding Fourth COVID-19 Response Package (April 17, 2020)

ASE/AMA coalition letter regarding H.R. 748, the “Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act” (CARES Act) (April 15, 2020)

CMS Reevaluates Accelerated Payment Program and Suspends Advance Payment Program (April 26, 2020)

CMS has issued an FAQ document regarding the distribution of the additional $20 billion from the $50 billion general allocation of the Provider Relief Fund. Most confusion has arisen around who can use the general distribution portal, i.e., you had to have received money from the first $30 billion distribution. (April 25, 2020)

HHS Announces Additional Allocations of CARES Act Provider Relief Fund (April 22, 2020)

Trump Administration Launches New Toolkit to Help States Navigate COVID-19 Health Workforce Challenges (April 22, 2020)

CARES Act Provider Relief Fund Payment Attestation Portal Opens (April 16, 2020)

Trump Administration Announces Expanded Coverage for Essential Diagnostic Services Amid COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (April 11, 2020)

In an effort to facilitate continuous patient care during quickly changing scenarios that are arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, DEA has issued two exceptions to regulations for DEA-registered hospital/clinics:

Utilize alternate satellite hospital/clinic locations under their current DEA registrations (no need to apply for a separate DEA registration for the alternate site). Read more here.
Distributors can ship controlled substances directly to these alternate satellite hospital/clinic locations, even though these locations do not have their own DEA registrations (non-registered). Read more here.

FAQs – on the Provider Relief Fund (April 10, 2020)

A state-by-state breakdown of the delivery of the initial $30 billion of CARES Act Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund (April 10, 2020)

AMA/ASE Collation Letter Regarding Financial Assistance for Physicians (April 7, 2020)

COVID-19: A Weekly Advocacy News Summary from ASE (March 30, 2020)

COVID-19: A Weekly Update from Washington (March 27, 2020)

COVID-19: A Weekly Advocacy News Summary from ASE (March 24, 2020)

ASE/AMA Coding Updates