On April 7, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that nearly $34 billion had been paid in the past week to health care providers battling COVID-19. The funds have been provided through the expansion of the Accelerated and Advance Payment Program, which is meant to ensure that physicians and other health care professionals and their suppliers have necessary resources.
American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) appealed to CMS to use this program whereby physician practices could ask for advanced payments based on previous Medicare billings. Many members have successfully applied for these advanced payments and should be receiving them soon.
Since traditional Medicare patients only account for about 25-30% of practice revenue, the AAFP has been pressing the major private payers to follow the lead of Medicare and offer the same opportunity for family physicians and their practices during this time. Some seem to be responding.