HHS announced a new $1.4 billion allocation of the Provider Relief Fund for free-standing children’s hospitals. HHS indicated in its announcement that the distribution is aimed at ensuring “that certain free-standing children’s hospitals, not affiliated with larger hospital systems, also receive the financial relief they urgently need to offset revenue losses,” suggesting that the distribution is meant to provide funding to hospitals that were left out of the prior safety net hospital distribution. These free-standing children’s hospitals—defined as those that are either exempt under the CMS inpatient prospective payment system or are HRSA-defined Children’s Hospital Graduate Medical Education facilities—will receive a payment in the amount of 2.5% of net patient revenue beginning the week of August 17. HHS also published a state/regional-level breakdown of validated children’s hospital distribution; the Department notes that an additional 24 children’s hospitals are being reviewed and the file will be updated once that validation is complete.