With recent natural disasters and the continuing spread of COVID-19, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a 60-day grace period for physicians and other providers to comply with their Provider Relief Fund Reporting requirements if they miss September 30, 2021 deadline for the first reporting period. The HHS will not initiate collection activities or similar enforcement actions for non-compliant providers during the grace period.
However, deadlines to use funds and the reporting time will not change. The grace period begins on October 1 and ends on November 30, 2021. Providers who can comply are encouraged to report by the September 30 original deadline. Additionally, providers should return any unused funds after submitting their report. All unused funds must be returned no later than 30 days after the grace period ends, or December 30, 2021.
The CAP had encouraged pathologists to utilize the financial assistance from these federal programs if needed and has provided resources for this and other programs.