Bloomberg Law quoted Elizabeth Hodge about the expected audits that hospitals may face as a result of receiving federal relief aid during the COVID-19 pandemic. Congress appropriated $175 billion under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to help providers fighting the crisis. The CARES Act allows use of the funds to cover healthcare expenses and lost revenue due to the pandemic. However, there is little guidance as to how to use those funds.
Hodge told Bloomberg Law that hospitals should cautiously approach the kinds of expenses that are listed in the CARES Act itself and to use the relief funds to pay for those expenses only. She added some expenses could be risky to cover with federal relief funds, including those associated with a previously planned capital expense.
“If a provider is audited for how they’ve used relief funds, it’s important to remember they’ll be judged under the lens at the time of the audit,” Hodge said.