Federal Stimulus Package
The AMA also wants you to know about parts of the new government stimulus bill to help your private practice. The bill includes:
- A new loan product within the Small Business Administration for loans of up to $10 million to help cover payroll and overhead costs, with expanded loan forgiveness criteria. Physician practices with not more than 500 employees may qualify.
- $100 billion in direct financial support to physician practices, hospitals, and other health care providers under the Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund. This support is for costs of treating COVID-19 patients as well as to ease the financial impact on those who lose revenue due to reductions in other services as a result of the pandemic. Exact eligibility criteria and application process is not yet defined pending implementation.
- Suspension of the 2% Medicare sequester in May through December 2020.
- Limitations on liability for volunteer health care professionals during COVID-19 emergency response.
- A temporary waiver of the face-to-face visit requirement with home dialysis patients.
- Authority for the Secretary of HHS to waive telehealth coverage requirements for new patients during a national emergency. Previous legislation provided flexibility only for established patients seen within the past three years.
- Secretary of HHS will also allow for enhanced use of telehealth under Medicare for federally qualified health centers.
Recommendations To Help Private Practices Navigate Non-Essential Care
Finally, in order to help you preserve staff, personal protection equipment, care supplies, promote patient and staff safety, and keep from overwhelming your local hospital, the AMA offers eight recommendations to help you develop a plan to triage non-urgent patient requests.
The recommendations include telling patients to call first, have a recorded message about self-screening and making a telemedicine visit.
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