COIPA April Advocate
COVID - 19
Preparedness 4/29/2020
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In this issue:
- Welcome COIPA's Newest Members
- 2nd Distribution Of Provider Relief
- Provider Input Needed: Quick Survey
- Credentialing Process During this State of Emergency
- Clinics Open & Here To Help
- Clinics Offering Telemedicine
- Telehealth Updates From CMS 4/10/20
- Technical Assistance For EHR's
- Staying Informed On COVID-19
- CORD (Central Oregon Resource Directory): Central Oregon Health Council
- Washington State Department Of Health
- Oregon Health Authority
- Homemade Masks From COIPA
- Patient Gives Back To VIM
- Job Postings For COIPA Members
- Funding Options: First Interstate Bank
- At Home Work Stations: Pacific Office Automation
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April Members
Collin M Blattner, DO
Stefanie E Casey, ARNP
Mariah M Johnson, MD
Mary E Schimmelpfennig, FNP
Marianne Straumfjord, MD
Kimberly A Thomson, MSW
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2nd Distribution of Provider Relief
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The Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) has announced plans for distributing the remainder of the Provider Relief Funds authorized by the CARES Act. If you received funding from the first distribution you are required to complete an online attestation in order to apply for payments from the additional $20 Billion now available. See below for an overview and action required.
Eligibility requirements to receive payments from Provider Relief Fund General Distribution:
· Billed Medicare in 2019
· Provide or have provided: diagnoses, testing, or care of individuals with possible or actual cases of COVID-19 after January 31, 2020.
IMPORTANT Information
· If you received an automatic payment from the Provider Relief Fund and retain that payment without contacting Health & Human Services (HHS) within 30 days of receipt of payment regarding remittance of those funds, you are deemed to have accepted the Terms and Conditions
(
Download PDF
).
· Non-compliance with any Term or Condition is grounds for recoupment of some or all of the payment received.
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Provider Input Needed: Quick Survey Below
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Dear Colleagues,
A local yoga studio,
Namaspa,
is interested in elevating provider wellness during COVID-19 for all front line providers (including nurses, MA’s, medical providers of specialty, and behavioral health providers, pharmacists, etc.). During this time of social distancing, for everyone’s safety, all wellness offerings will be virtual. Free passes will be provided for those in need, so there is not an out of pocket expense and finances are not a barrier to wellness.
Namaspa is interested in soliciting your input before launching this wellness series. It would be great if you would be willing to complete a very short survey to help them gauge your interest. The survey is totally anonymous and takes less than 2 minutes to complete and can be accessed
HERE.
Kind regards,
Divya
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Credentialing Process During this State of Emergency
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Did you know that most health plans currently have a process in place during this state of emergency for credentialing? These processes will allow providers to have claims paid as in-network, but it is a different modified process. If you have a provider that you need to help your clinic but is not completely credentialed yet please reach out to us via
email
.
Thank you,
Teresa
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Note:
Clinicians throughout the community can order COVID-19 testing at their discretion through commercial labs WITHOUT approval by public health.
Quick links to the labs are housed online at
COIPA's
website.
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Clinics spreading the word that they are open and here for you.
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Telemedicine: The following COIPA clinics have announced that they are currently offering televisits to their patients
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4/10/20 Telehealth Updates from CMS
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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
announced
that organizations, including those in Medicare Advantage (MA), that submit diagnoses for risk adjusted payment are now able to submit diagnoses for risk adjustment that are from telehealth visits. APG has been vigorously advocating for this modification and we applaud CMS for taking this meaningful action.
Submission for these visits are allowed when they meet all criteria for risk adjustment, which include:
- The visit is from an allowable inpatient, outpatient, or professional service, and
- A face-to-face encounter
- This requirement is met when the services are provided using an interactive audio and video telecommunications system that permits real-time interactive communication
The use of diagnoses from telehealth services applies to submissions to the Risk Adjustment Processing System (RAPS) and those submitted to the Encounter Data System (EDS). For EDS, MA organizations (and other organizations as required) report all the services they provide to enrollees to the system and CMS will then identify those diagnoses that meet risk adjustment filtering criteria. In order to report services to the EDS that have been provided via telehealth, providers are advised to use place of service code “02” for telehealth or use the CPT telehealth modifier “95” with any place of service.
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Technical Assistance for EHR's
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COIPA will continue to provide health IT assistance free of charge to help members incorporate virtual visits and telemedicine into their practice workflows. As we shift into a “new normal”, remember that we are available to help with many areas of COVID-related HIT including making sure you have the current codes, are exchanging data with the community, updating lab interfaces for new testing options, patient messaging, ad hoc reporting, etc.
If you would like assistance with EHR features or health IT solutions, please don’t hesitate to contact James McCormack, COIPA’s Director of Informatics, directly at
jmccormack@coipa.org
or by cell phone at 503-307-7994. In addition to extensive experience with eClinicalWorks, COIPA has access to an expert Athena consultant, Jensina Hawkins, who is also standing by to help. For users of Epic and other EHRs, COIPA recognizes that you may already have strong health IT support from your internal IT and/or vendors, but we stand ready to help in any way we can.
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Caravan's guides to adapting AWVs & E/M visits to a telehealth format:
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Staying informed on COVID-19
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The Department of Health for Washington has created a web page dedicated to keeping our community up to date and informed on the current state of COVID-19. Click the link below for the most current information.
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Central Oregon Health Council has created a web page dedicated to keeping our community up to date and informed on the most impactful COVID-19 communications. Below is link to the new site.
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Oregon Health Association has a dedicated site to keep you update on the pressing COVID-19 impacts. Below is a quick link to the site.
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To help stay on top of the surge here is a useful
link
for reference
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If your clinic(s) needs PPE urgently, COIPA has a supply of homemade masks ready for our members.
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COIPA Clinics in need of CE & FDA Approved disposal medical masks can contact
Kira
to place an order.
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Job Postings for COIPA Members
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COIPA is updating our
web site
to add available staff resources (“help available”) in our community in addition to open positions (“help wanted”). We recognize the current crisis is already having an impact on our clinical and administrative workforce and will post and update announcements submitted by
email
.
Please be sure to indicate whether you have staff available to other members, or your own needs for additional staff.
Note:
While COIPA will providing this space, we are not responsible for connecting and vetting individuals. Postings must include contact information and any specifications for “help available” or “help wanted”.
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Clinics Needing Additional Funding During This Time
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For our clinics needing information regarding obtaining a loan from First Interstate to assist with operations during the COVID-19 outbreak please reach out to:
Dawn Cofer
541-330-7555
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Remote Workstation Assistance To POA Clients
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The team at Pacific Office Automation can help with setting up at home workstations to help keep your office and staff going.
Sean Walsh
Doug Judish
541-388-1276
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Mission
COIPA is committed to our members' success by:
- Providing sustainable support services
- Incentivizing quality care
- Engaging individuals for improvement
- Partnering with the community
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We want to hear all of the exciting changes, new services, promotions, and events that our members have scheduled in 2020 and share it monthly in the Advocate.
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