The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued contracts to several firms to audit federal financial assistance sent to providers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The audits will start after Sept. 30 for providers that received at least $750,000 in federal financial assistance last year, including from the Provider Relief Fund (PRF). Sept. 30 is the end of the reporting period for providers who received PRF money in spring 2020. Contracted firms include Grant Thornton, Creative Solutions Counseling, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and KPMG.
The HHS Office of Inspector General also announced it would perform its own audit of the program to determine if payments were correctly calculated, support by “appropriate and reasonable” documentation, and paid to eligible providers.
While HHS has still not distributed the remaining PRF funds, Acumen LLC was awarded a $9.5 million contract on June 18 to develop payment disbursement methodologies and process applications.