Medicare delays recoupment of COVID-19 loans

President Trump has signed legislation that relaxes loan repayment terms for family physicians who received COVID-19 relief funds via the Medicare Accelerated and Advance Payment (AAP) program.

Medicare was originally slated to start recouping the advanced payments starting in August, by offsetting every claim providers submitted. But physicians now have one year after the AAP loan was issued before recoupment begins. Additionally, the recoupment rate will be lowered from its current 100% level to 25% for the first 11 months of repayment, and 50% for the six months after that. Physicians have 29 months to pay back the funds in full before interest begins to accrue. The interest rate has also been lowered from 9.6% to 4%.

Under the AAP program, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) offered advance payments to physicians to help keep their doors open during the early months of the pandemic. CMS suspended the program in April, when provider grants that don't have to be repaid became widely available.

- Sandy Pogones, Senior Strategist for Healthcare Quality and Kent Moore, Senior Strategist for Physician Payment