COVID-19

Article Dean Dorton

On January 20, 2022, the U.S. Department of Education (the Department) announced $198 million in American Rescue Plan funds that will primarily support community colleges and other institutions to meet the basic needs of students – especially those exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Supplemental Support under American Rescue Plan (SSARP) program will require institutions to submit applications to receive funding.  The Department plans to prioritize community colleges and rural institutions that serve a high percentage of low-income students and have continued to experience enrollment declines.  SSARP funds are to be used toward evidence-based practices to monitor and suppress Coronavirus, strategies for addressing students’ basic needs, supporting students in continued and re-enrollment, forgives of institutional debts, and expansion of programs that lead to in-demand jobs.

As part of the announcement, the Department also released additional guidance surrounding meeting students’ basic needs.  The guidance provides specific examples for areas of insecurity with housing, food, and childcare.  The guidance can be found here.

Additionally, the Department reminded institutions that they can now use the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FASFA) data to communicate other federal programs for which they may qualify, like Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Affordable Connectivity Program at the Federal Communications Commission.  Find the letter from the Department here.

Dean Dorton’s Higher Education team is monitoring all updates from the U.S. Department of Education and will update you if there is new information released. Find additional information about the latest release below.

HEERF FAQGEN-22-02Read More

Megan Crane, CPA
Assurance Associate Director
mcrane@deandorton.com • 859.425.7643

Article Dean Dorton

For over a year, small and midsize employers have been able to claim refundable payroll tax credits that reimburse them for the cost of providing paid sick and family leave to employees related to COVID-19. The Families First Coronavirus Response Act, enacted in March of 2020, required employers with fewer than 500 employees and most governmental employers to provide employees with paid sick and family leave for various COVID-19 related reasons. The requirement to provide this leave expired December 31, 2020. However, under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP), employers that choose to provide leave to eligible employees can continue to claim tax credits for leave taken through and including September 30, 2021.

Under the ARP, employees may receive up to 80 hours of paid sick leave and up to 12 weeks of paid family leave. Employers are entitled to tax credits if they provide employees with paid leave because the employee is unable to work due to any of the following reasons:

  1. The employee is under a federal, state, or local quarantine or isolation order related to COVID-19.
  2. The employee has been advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine due to COVID-19 concerns.
  3. The employee is:
    • Experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 and seeking a medical diagnosis;
    • Seeking or awaiting the results of a diagnostic test for, or a medical diagnosis of, COVID-19 (and the employee has been exposed to COVID-19 or the employer has requested the test or diagnosis); or
    • Obtaining or recovering from the COVID-19 vaccine.
  4. The employee is caring for an individual subject to an order listed in #1 or who has been advised as described in #2.
  5. The employee is caring for a child whose school or place of care is closed, or childcare provider is unavailable, due to COVID-19 precautions.
  6. The employee is accompanying an immediate family member or someone who regularly resides in the employee’s home to obtain the COVID-19 vaccine or caring for such an individual who is recovering from the COVID-19 vaccine.

The pay to which employees are entitled and the employer’s corresponding tax credit vary depending on the reason for leave. Employers must retain records supporting each employee’s leave to substantiate their claim for tax credits.

Other COVID-19 Relief Programs

Other government COVID-19 relief programs have already expired or will expire soon. The Paycheck Protection Program, Restaurant Revitalization Fund, and Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program are now closed to new applications. The employee retention credit (ERC), a refundable payroll tax credit for employers experiencing economic hardship due to COVID-19, is scheduled to expire at the end of 2021. However, the bipartisan infrastructure bill pending in Congress would end the ERC three months early on October 1, 2021. The ERC is claimed on an employer’s payroll tax return, which generally can be amended within three years from the date the return was filed.

covid19solutions@deandorton.com

Article Dean Dorton

Repayment of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans will begin this month for early 2020 borrowers that have not yet applied for forgiveness. By submitting a forgiveness application, required principal and interest payments are forestalled until the Small Business Administration (SBA) decides on forgiveness of the loan. If you have not applied, you are not alone as approximately 71% of total PPP loan borrowers have yet to apply for forgiveness.

The earliest PPP loans were issued on April 3, 2020. If a borrower received its PPP loan funds on that date and chose the twenty-four-week covered period, the borrower’s first payment on the loan is due on or about July 17, 2021. A borrower must apply for forgiveness within ten months of the end of its covered period to avoid having to make principal and interest payments on the loan. In addition, if the SBA determines that the loan is not eligible for forgiveness (in whole or in part), the PPP loan is no longer deferred and the borrower must begin paying principal and interest. If this occurs, the lender must notify the borrower of the date the first payment is due.

However, not all is lost if a borrower cannot submit its forgiveness application before the due date of the first payment. While that payment still must be made, once the forgiveness application is submitted and ruled upon, the SBA will direct the lender to repay payments made by the borrower if the amount of the payments is part of the loan forgiveness.

There are three forgiveness applications: Form 3508S, Form 3508EZ, and Form 3508. Form 3508S is for loans of $150,000 or less. Form 3508EZ is for loans of more than $150,000 where the borrower (1) did not reduce the number of employees, or the average paid hours of employees between January 1, 2020 and the end of the covered period and did not reduce the annual salary or hourly wages of any employee (whose annualized salary was $100,000 or less) by more than 25% during the covered period, compared to the most recent full quarter preceding the covered period; or (2) was unable to operate during the covered period at the same level of business activity as before February 15, 2020 due to compliance with government health and safety requirements or guidance issued during specified timeframes. Borrowers unable to use either Form 3508S or Form 3508EZ must use the “long-form” Form 3508.

The Employee Retention Credit (ERC) and Shuttered Venue Operator Grants (SVOG)

Business owners should evaluate whether their business qualifies for the potentially lucrative employee retention credit (ERC). The ERC is a refundable payroll tax credit for eligible employers, calculated as a percentage of qualified wages paid to employees between March 13, 2020 and December 31, 2021. To be eligible, a business must meet one of two criteria during a calendar quarter:

  1. The operation of the business is fully or partially suspended due to orders from an appropriate governmental authority limiting commerce, travel, or group meetings because of COVID-19; or
  2. The employer experiences a significant decline in gross receipts.

To learn more about the ERC, click the button below to access A Guide to the Employee Retention Credit.

A Guide to the Employee Retention Credit

Former President Trump signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act (Act) in late December 2020. The Act authorized over $16 billion for Shuttered Venue Operator Grants (SVOG). SVOG funds are available to eligible entities including promoters and operators of live venues, talent representatives, museums, zoos, aquariums and motion picture theaters. The SVOG must be used for specified expenses, such as payroll costs, rent, utilities, personal protective equipment, insurance payments, and scheduled debt payments. As of June 28, 2021, it appears that approximately $4 billion in funds remained available. You can read more about SVOG here. Also, the SBA has issued detailed guidance on the program.

covid19solutions@deandorton.com

Article Dean Dorton

Based on annual aggregated data collected by Gallup, 2020 represents the first year in their many decades of polling that church membership among U.S. adults has fallen below 50%. Rather than chalking membership up as a casualty of the pandemic, Gallup concluded in its report (released March 29, 2021) that this is just the latest result in a disturbingly steady trend. Americans are not placing value on specific church affiliation as they once did and that means they aren’t engaged to share their time and treasure.

This nationwide trend doesn’t have to be the trend for your faith community. With thoughtful planning at this worldwide point of transition, your community could be the positive outlier in Gallup’s future research.

A T2 deficiency may be a product of less membership, but it also indicates a less engaged current membership. There are a multitude of programing ideas to attract and retain members, but without a solid financial foundation, these programs risk being inadvertently undermined through no fault of their own.  Programs that flounder financially may actually alienate the membership they were designed to engage. Additionally, interest in further innovation could be mortally wounded and your community could be destined to become a statistical average.

To counter this possibility, take steps now to develop financial credibility. Well organized financial results should be available to all members in dynamic formats that makes sense to them individually. Your members care about different aspects of their faith life so initiate frequent informal discussions to determine what those aspects are. Then map and simplify financial data to demonstrate results specific to areas of interest.  If results are poor in a given area, highlight it instead of hiding it! Invite other to share in definition of the problem and identification of solutions. Doing so gives members a great opportunity to share their talent and strengthen ties to their faith community.

Integrity is the cornerstone for credibility. Integrity demands that you present accurate financial data in accordance with best practice accounting standards so that data can be understood, compared and relied upon by anyone who picks up your reports. Make sure your process included review so that, once published, financial information for your faith-based organization can be a solid point of reference. When members can clearly see the financial impact of specific action or inaction, engagement is an easy choice.

If you’re at a loss to picture how you can accurately and credibly present financial results for the aspects of faith life that most interest your members, contact me for a complimentary discussion. Talking through your accounting structure will help clarify your next steps toward successful financial transparency and credibility.

Lastly, whenever possible, infuse financial reports with non-financial data. This marriage of results will add depth to your financial foundation and give members a hearty springboard for engagement. It will arm the meekest in your fold with an easy talking point and they may feel emboldened share that good news with others. In the end, vanquishing your T2 deficit will take the efforts and engagement of your entire community. Empower them in this mission!

As a manager in Dean Dorton’s Financial & Accounting Services team, Kaydee Ruppert enjoys assisting faith-based and other nonprofit organizations to empower their financial stories. 

Kaydee Ruppert, CPA, MSA
Nonprofit Expert | Accounting & Financial Outsourcing Manager
kruppert@deandorton.com • 859.425.7730

Article Dean Dorton

You know the drill – the longer you go unpaid the harder it is to collect but your medical practice needs every dollar accounted for to keep running efficiently and effectively.

Dean Dorton Healthcare Solutions empowers clients in five important ways:

  1. Responsiveness: How often do you have a claim that gets older than 60 days? By co-sourcing A/R cleanup with the Dean Dorton Healthcare Solutions team, instead of worrying about that unpaid claim, you can focus on big picture, overall financial and operational goals. Hate dealing with A/R entirely? Our team can be your A/R resource in a variety of capacities.
  2. Reporting: Quality A/R cleanup requires detailed and accurate reporting and coding to get claims paid. Our experienced team brings the knowledge from many different backgrounds, specialties, and systems to give your practice the best-in-class service.
  3. Analyzing: Our team can easily model calculations so you understand what is working with your A/R, what is not working, and where you can maximize benefits.
  4. Forecasting: By identifying what is happening with A/R we can quickly generate forecasts to influence and inform decisions by functional managers, senior management, and board members.
  5. Big picture: Your revenue cycle is about more than just A/R, but A/R plays an important role in maximizing your strategic plans that exploit business opportunities and sidestep risks.

To get started, take a look at your medical practice’s current A/R and identify weaknesses. Did you have any of the following happen in the last six to nine months?

  • Staff turnover
  • A systems change
  • Numerous bad claims
  • Are you generally behind due to COVID-19?

If the answer is yes to any of these, it’s worth your time to explore your options as it relates to A/R and cleanup projects.

Learn more

Christie Atzinger, CPC
Medical Billing and Consulting Services Manager
catzinger@deandorton.com • 502.916.3130

Article Dean Dorton

During the past several months, we’ve heard directly from clients that COVID-19 has not only changed the operational and financial performance of community hospitals, but the last year has also opened eyes to numerous risks that were previously unknown or thought to be of little importance.

1. “We didn’t know that XYZ person didn’t have a back-up.”
Team member absence due to illness or quarantine quickly exposed the fact that some people or departments were spread too thin and/or didn’t have trained reliable back-up processes and staffing in place. Long term absences created backlogs and a lack of documented policies and procedures made it nearly impossible for others to assume the workload. This was true in supply chain, materials management, clinical departments, accounting, and others.

2. “Our technology infrastructure wasn’t prepared to support significant amounts of telecommuting and/or telemedicine.”
Many team members, and in fact entire departments were forced to work remotely for much of the last year, and in some instances continuing to do so. Has your technology team been able to support that shift? Are you comfortable with data security measures and productivity monitoring with increased telecommuting? Has your telehealth strategy been fully optimized? Many departments experienced decreases in productivity which lead to financial impacts and patient dissatisfaction.

3. “Revenue cycle departments have been scrambling to stay afloat and strategic investments and improvements have been delayed.”
In many instances, community hospitals have seen A/R aging worsen, staffing has experienced significant turnover or furlough, and now that volumes are coming back, the team cannot keep up. It is very difficult to stay current while also addressing the backlogs that have developed. Don’t let predictable cash collections and days in A/R mask underlying trends or potential backlogs within the revenue cycle. Outsourced vendors were also impacted by COVID. Evaluate their performance to determine if potential improvement opportunities exist.

If these or any other similar revelations sound familiar to your organization, it may be prudent to conduct an enterprise-wide risk assessment or begin the process of prioritizing risks based on financial, operational, and compliance impact.

Adam Shewmaker, FHFMA
Healthcare Consulting Director
ashewmaker@ddafhealthcare.com • 502.566.1054