The Northam Administration has decided to grant more flexibility to the process for claiming funds for COVID-related expenses from the state’s allocation of CARES Act funding to NFs and ALFs. DMAS will be sending out a letter and revised invoice spreadsheets next week, with a due date of no later than December 30. The current due date for the last invoice had been December 1, but this deadline is now superseded by the December 30 deadline. It is important to note that DMAS does not have flexibility to extend the deadline beyond December 30.

You may recall back in June the Northam Administration announced that approximately $53 million in CARES act funding received by the state would be allocated to help with COVID-related costs for NFs ($33 million) and ALFs ($20 million). On August 17, DMAS issued a NF and ALF letter outlining the process and the monthly limits on funding. The monthly limits remain in effect, but the process and invoice have been modified slightly.

The new flexibility is around reporting the amount of CARES Act direct provider relief funds (PRF) received and recognizing the full allowed use to PRF to include lost revenue. As an option in lieu of reporting PRF received, the NF/ALF will be able to sign an attestation regarding reimbursement of costs by other federal relief programs, which would include PRF. If you opt for the attestation, you should review language with your accounting and legal resources to confirm that you can sign it in good faith. This may allow you to access the state-allocated money prior to the accounting of PRF. We continue to recommend, however, that if the invoice calculation does not show a net reimbursable cost from these state-allocated funds, no invoice should be submitted.

We realize this message is short on detail, which is due to this being an evolving issue, but we wanted to give you a heads-up in regards to the DMAS communication coming next week. Once you receive the information from DMAS next week, please review it thoroughly and if there are questions or concerns, please email Steve Ford. We would also be interested in knowing if you think this change will allow you to access the funding.