Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 June 2020
425. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Health if nursing homes must account for the way in which they spend the €72 million support package; and if so, if a breakdown of the spending will be provided in tabular form, [11887/20]
View answerOn 04 April, I announced the establishment of a Temporary Assistance Payment Scheme (TAPS) with funding of up to €72.5m available to private and voluntary nursing homes. The Scheme opened for applications on 17 April. The core concept of the scheme is that the State will provide additional funding to those nursing homes that require it, to contribute towards support measures associated with COVID-19 preparedness, mitigation and outbreak management. This temporary scheme will provide support for a 3-month period - April, May and June 2020.
There are two component parts of the Scheme which are integrated:
- a support payment per month based on the number of residents; and
- enhanced assistance in the event of a nursing home actively managing an outbreak.
Under the standard support component, funding may be provided to each applicant nursing home for COVID-19 related measures and associated expected costs for the month. The maximum level of financial support under the Scheme will be calculated by reference to the number of residents in the nursing home at a specified time.
Where a nursing home has incurred significant further costs or undertaken necessary enhanced actions arising directly from a COVID-19 outbreak, a nursing home may submit a separate business case for enhanced assistance.
There is an overall monthly funding cap, which is the maximum amount that may be paid in respect of each month to a Nursing Home under the Scheme. This amount applies to the aggregate of payments under the Standard Assistance Payment and the Outbreak Assistance Payment. It is equal to the lower of:
- twice the Standard Assistance Payment Cap for the month;
- the amount of €75,000.
Where a nursing home applies for an assistance payment through the Scheme, the nursing home may only claim for those additional allowable costs, as set out in the Scheme details. Additional Costs are costs incurred by the Nursing Home which would not have been incurred were it not for the impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Allowable Costs are costs that may be included in an application for support under the Scheme. The nursing home must submit a Statement of Additional Allowable Costs in support of an application to the Scheme and, therefore, vouch that all amounts claimed are in relation to those allowable costs arising as a result of the impact of COVID-19.
Applications to the Scheme are made to the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) in the first instance where an assessment of the application is carried out to determine the payment amount in accordance with the Scheme Rules and subsequently advises the HSE of the proposed payment amount for each Nursing Home. The HSE undertakes a final validation and makes a decision on the application.
The NTPF and/or the HSE will carryout formal audits of claims made retrospectively on a risk and/or sample basis - they will be supported in this work by professional auditors. It will be necessary for the Nursing Home to be able to provide vouched evidence of COVID-19 expenditure as any expenditure that is not vouched will be recoverable.
In some cases, where an outbreak has been experienced and a claim is made under the outbreak assistance component of the Scheme, the claim requires independently certified verification.
I have forwarded the payment aspects of the question to the HSE for direct reply to the Deputy.
