By: Tami Shaw, Client Manager, Lighthouse Lab Services
I have a clinical lab client who registered as a Mass Immunizer from Medicare and was accepted into the program. This has allowed them to be able to administer the vaccine and receive proper payment.
Unfortunately, what they have found is that not all payers are fully reimbursing the roughly $40 for administering the vaccine. They recently asked if they could balance bill the remainder to HRSA, because they had heard about government funding that might cover this. Even though I didn’t think I would find anything fruitful, I went ahead and researched it.
It turns out there is indeed government funding to help this. It is a program called HRSA Covid-19 Coverage Assistance Fund. This fund was created to cover the cost of administering the Covid-19 vaccine to patients whose health insurance does not cover, or does not “fully” cover the vaccine.
Providers who have administered FDA authorized vaccines under the Emergency use authorization can now submit claims for consideration of coverage assistance. To be eligible for the reimbursement they must first submit the claim to the individual health plan, and it has to have been denied or partially paid.