Medicare Advance Payments Available to Providers Affected by Hurricane Helene

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced Medicare fee-for-services providers and suppliers affected by Hurricane Helene and who are located in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) disaster zones are eligible for accelerated and advance payments effective October 2, 2024. 

Accelerated payments to Medicare Part A providers and advance payments to Medicare Part B providers and suppliers may be granted in amounts equal to a percentage of the preceding 90 days of claims payments. These payments will be repaid through automatic recoupment from Medicare claims for a period of 90 days following the issuance of the accelerated or advance payment. A demand will be issued for any remaining balance on day 91 following the issuance of the accelerated or advance payment.

Among the criteria that providers and suppliers must meet to request accelerated or advance payments is that the provider/supplier must have billed Medicare for claims during the 90 days prior to the aftermath of the natural disaster.

Requests for accelerated or advance payments must be submitted to Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs).

A list of MACs can be found at the CMS.gov website at: https://www.cms.gov/mac-info.