PRB Provider Relief Fund General Information FAQ

Providers that have Provider Relief Fund payments that they cannot expend on allowable expenses or lost revenues attributable to coronavirus by the Period of Availability that corresponds to the Payment Received Period were required to return such funds to the federal government.

Please note regarding the return of unused funds: The instructions on ‘PRF Return of Unused Funds Portal’ explain the two-part process to return funds. There may be a delay in processing the return, especially if repaying by paper check. If you have additional questions, please call the Provider Support Line at (866) 569-3522 (for TTY, dial 711).

To return any unused funds, use the Return Unused PRF Funds Portal. Instructions for returning any unused funds.

The Provider Relief Fund Terms and Conditions and applicable laws authorized HHS to audit Provider Relief Fund recipients now or in the future to ensure that program requirements are/were met. HHS is authorized to recover any Provider Relief Fund payment amounts that were made in error, exceed lost revenue or expenses due to coronavirus, or do not otherwise meet applicable legal and program requirements.

(Modified 2/16/2023)

Yes, for Provider Relief Fund payments that were held in an interest-bearing account, the provider must return the accrued interest associated with the amount being returned to HHS. However, if the funds were not held in an interest-bearing account, there is no obligation for the provider to return any additional amount other than the Provider Relief fund payment being returned to HHS. HHS reserves the right to audit Provider Relief Fund recipients in the future to ensure that payments that were held in an interest-bearing account were subsequently returned with accrued interest.

To return accrued interest, visit pay.gov.  On the webpage, locate "Find an agency," and select "Health and Human Services (HHS) Program Support Center HQ."  Verify that the description is "PSC HQ Payment" and form number is "HHSHQ," then click continue.  You will then need to complete the following steps:
Step 1: Preview the form, then click "Continue."
Step 2: Indicate whether you are completing on behalf of an individual or business and enter the following information.
Business Name Field: Legal name of organization that received the payment
Invoice or Ticket Number Field: "HHS-COVID-Interest"
Contract/Agreement Number Field:  Tax Identification Number (TIN) of organization or provider that received the payment
Point of contact: Business contact information
Payment Amount: (The payment amount must match the interest earned on the payment received.)
Step 3: Verify the interest return payment amount and select to pay by ACH or debit/credit card, then select "Continue."
Step 4: Enter the required information to complete the payment, then select "Review and Submit."
Step 5: Ensure that all information is correct and select "Submit." 

(Updated 12/11/2020)

Providers who rejected one or more Provider Relief Fund and/or ARP Rural payments exceeding $10,000, in aggregate, and kept the funds were required to report on these funds during the applicable reporting period per the Terms and Conditions associated with the payment(s). In order to be able to report on the use of funds, a provider must have contacted the Provider Support Line at (866) 569-3522 (for TTY, dial 711) to request a change to their attestation from “rejected” to “accepted.” Once the attestation status has been updated in the attestation portal, the Provider Relief Fund Reporting Portal will subsequently be updated to accurately reflect the kept payment that the provider was required to report on during the applicable reporting period.

(Modified 10/27/2022)

If you received an invoice from the U.S. Department of Treasury Centralized Receivables Service or Cross-Servicing, please refer to the payment options found in your invoice. For more information visit the Returning Funds page.

The following instructions are to return the full payment amount:

If the provider received payment via electronic transfer, the provider needs to contact their financial institution and ask the institution to initiate a “R23 - Credit Entry Refused by Receiver" code on the original Automated Clearing House (ACH) transaction.

If a provider was paid via paper check, the provider should have destroyed the check if it is not deposited or mail a paper check to UnitedHealth Group with notification of their request to return the funds. Mail a refund check for the full amount payable to “UnitedHealth Group” to the address below.

UnitedHealth Group
Attention: Provider Relief Fund
PO Box 31376
Salt Lake City, UT 84131-0376

Returning the payment in full or not depositing the payment received by paper check within 90 days without taking further action in the attestation portal is considered a de facto rejection of the terms and conditions associated with the payment.

The following instructions were to return a partial payment amount:

Entities can return partial payments via Pay.gov. For more information on this process, please review the instructions.

If your organization has been referred for debt collection, refer to the payment options found in your invoice from the U.S. Department of Treasury Centralized Receivables Service (CRS), Centralized Receivables Service. Do not return payments to HRSA or United Health Group via pay.gov or check.

Learn more about returning Provider Relief Fund payments.

(Updated 2/16/2024)

Yes. If the provider did not return the payment within 15 calendar days of rejecting the payment in the attestation portal, the provider would have been considered to have accepted the payment and must abide by the Terms and Conditions associated with the distribution. The government may pursue collection activity to collect the unreturned payment.

(Added 8/30/2021)

If the provider received a payment via check and had not yet deposited it, destroy, shred, or securely dispose of it. If the provider had already deposited the check, mail a refund check for the full amount, payable to “UnitedHealth Group” to the address below via United States Postal Service (USPS); mailing services such as FedEx and UPS cannot be used with this PO box. Please list the check number from the original Provider Relief Fund check in the memo. Mail a refund check for the full amount payable to “UnitedHealth Group” to the address below.

UnitedHealth Group
Attention: Provider Relief Fund
PO Box 31376
Salt Lake City, UT 84131-0376

(Updated 10/28/2020)

Contact UnitedHealth Group's Provider Support Line at (866) 569-3522 (for TTY, dial 711).

(Added 5/12/2020)

No, HHS will not issue a new payment to a provider that received and then subsequently rejected and returned the original payment.  The provider may be considered for future distributions if it meets the eligibility criteria for that distribution.

(Updated 10/28/2020)