RHC COVID-19 Testing and Mitigation Program- Terms and Conditions and Upcoming Payments

June 7, 2021
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 authorized $460 million of additional funding through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)/Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) to more than 4,600 eligible rural health clinics (RHCs) for the Rural Health Clinic COVID-19 Testing and Mitigation Program. RHCs will use the funds for COVID-19 testing and mitigation activities including maintaining and increasing COVID-19 testing, expanding access to testing for rural residents, and broadening efforts to mitigate the spread of the virus in ways tailored to their local communities.

HRSA expanded the previous set of measures used to monitor and assess the RHC COVID-19 Testing Program. Funded RHCs must report the number of tests conducted, the number of positive tests, and data related to COVID-19 mitigation activities on a monthly basis for the duration of the reporting period starting July 2021 at the Tax Identification Number (TIN) level. No personally identifiable, patient-level information is being requested. Please review the terms and conditions for this program for additional information and reporting responsibilities.

RHCs that met the requirements for the RHC COVID-19 Testing Program will receive a one-time allocation of up to $100,000 per clinic site which will be automatically deposited in the bank account of the corresponding TIN organization around June 10, 2021 (some payments, including those issued via paper check, may have a longer processing time) with the following payment description- “COVID*ARPAct*RHCCTMPmt*HHS.GOV”.

Ineligible RHCs that are not current with reporting of testing data on rhccovidreporting.com will have the opportunity to catch up for future program consideration, dependent on the availability of funds. RHCs will not have to apply for payments for this program.

If you have additional RHC COVID-19 Testing Program data reporting questions, please contact the National Association of Rural Health Clinics (NARHC) or the National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health (NOSORH).

For additional questions: RHCCOVID-19Testing.

HRSA Rural Health Clinic COVID-19 Testing and Mitigation Program Team
RHCCOVID-19Testing
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