CARES Act ~ Financial Relief For
Physicians Advocacy / SBA Support For
501(c) (6) Non-profits
This last week WOMA signed onto two letters
(available below)
sent to The US Congress advocating on behalf of physicians financially impacted by the pandemic. The letter advocating for financial relief for physicians contributed to a decision that HHS just announced. HHS has announced that $30 billion will be distributed immediately, with payments arriving through direct deposit beginning today (April 10
th
) to eligible providers throughout the healthcare system. While we know that this funding is not enough to make physicians whole, it is an important step forward.
This is a grant program, not a loan or advance payment. These payments are for providers in areas heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as those who have healthy patients delaying care and cancelling elective services. Details on the program are below.
- All facilities and providers that received Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) reimbursements in 2019 are eligible for this initial rapid distribution.
- Payments to practices that are part of larger medical groups will be sent to the group's central billing office. Additionally, payments are being made to the billing organization according to its Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN).
- A condition to receiving these funds is that providers must agree not to seek collection of out-of-pocket payments from a COVID-19 patient that are greater than what the patient would have otherwise been required to pay if the care had been provided by an in-network provider.
- The distribution of funds will be based on providers’ share of total Medicare FFS reimbursements in 2019. Total FFS payments were approximately $484 billion in 2019. Providers can estimate their payment by dividing their 2019 Medicare FFS (not including Medicare Advantage) payments they received by $484,000,000,000, and multiply that ratio by $30,000,000,000. Providers can obtain their 2019 Medicare FFS billings from their organization's revenue management system.
- As an example: A community hospital billed Medicare FFS $121 million in 2019. To determine how much they would receive, use this equation: $121,000,000/$484,000,000,000 x $30,000,000,000 = $7,500,000
- Within 30 days of receiving the payment, providers must sign an attestation confirming receipt of the funds and agreeing to the terms and conditions of payment. The portal for signing the attestation will be open the week of April 13, 2020.
The letter regarding non-profits concerns another issue we are working on, this letter addresses the need for financial relief for 501(c)(6) organizations in small business legislation. The attached letter is directed at the chairs and ranking member of the House and Senate Small Business Committees and requests the inclusion of relief for 501(c)(6) associations in the next COVID-19 legislative package. We are also looking at additional ways to support the physician workforce in the next round of COVID-19 legislation and will have more on that in the next 1-2 weeks. Please let WOMA know if you have any additional issues you would like considered.
|
|
AOA-AAO OMM Educational Module
relating to COVID-19 titled:
“Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine (OMM) Techniques Addressing Respiratory Symptoms of COVID-19”
The American Osteopathic Association (AOA) and American Academy of Osteopathy (AAO) is offering an online learning activity to help physicians review applicable OMM techniques for optimizing pulmonary function in COVID-19 or suspected COVID-19 patients. The eLearning module, titled, “Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine (OMM) Techniques Addressing Respiratory Symptoms of COVID-19” will provide a refresher in applicable OMM techniques. Free for all members and non-members, the patient-centered CME will offer 1.0 AOA 1-B credit or 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit ™.
Click
here
to learn more or enroll. While it's no cost for AOA members and non-members, the physician will need an AOA account/number to log on to AOA Online Learning. New users can create an account for free.
|
|
107th Annual NW Osteopathic Convention Registration Postponed!
Due to the COVID-19 situation, WOMA is postponing formal registration for the convention. We do ask that you pre-register for the convention by emailing
hgriffin@woma.org
with your name and email address. We also ask that you reserve your hotel room if you have not already as soon as possible to assure availability. As of right now we are waiting to see how the Governor's stay at home order will affect a live CME event and we will keep you updated as new information becomes available to us.
Hotel Reservations:
The Lodge at Suncadia
3600 Suncadia Trail
Cle Elum, WA 98922
You may go online
here
,
and use the discount code
G-37F0
or you may call 866-904-6300.
WOMA reservations room block cut-off date is May 18th.
|
|
Prescription Monitoring Program
System Upgrade
Last summer the Department of Health (DOH) signed a three-year extension on our contract with Appriss for the continued operation of the
Washington State Prescription Monitoring Program
(PMP) system. As a part of this contract extension, DOH determined that an upgrade from the legacy system,
RxSentry
, to the newest platform,
AWARxE
, was necessary to ensure the continued operation of Washington’s PMP system.
On April 21, 2020
DOH will “go-live”
with the implementation of the
Appriss’
AWARxE platform as
AWARxE
. It will feature updated metrics, faster processing speeds for data entry and queries, and a 24/7 customer service helpdesk.
If you are a current
PMP user be sure to log into RxSentry
to make sure your account is up-to-date so that it can be migrated over to the new system.
|
|
Do you have member news to share with your osteopathic colleagues?
Please send it and a related photo, if available, to executivedirector@woma.org
|
|
The Washington Osteopathic Medical Association
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
