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From The Coalition:
Urgent: Cut to Transportation Funding for Elderly and People with Disabilities
At the end of the week it was discovered that the Rural Operating Assistance Program
(ROAP), which is an 18 million dollar program that funds Elderly and Disability Transportation, was zeroed out in
House Bill 77v5.
As we understand it,
House Bill 77v5 passed the Senate and is up for a vote in the House on today.
We understand that there is a plan to fill some of the resulting funding decrease through CARES funds, but the CARES funds does not seem able to match the amount that is being cut from the Rural Operating Assistance Program. It appears that
House Bill 77v5
could result in a decrease in funding for the Rural Operating Assistance Program at around 10.5 million dollars.
Additionally, we are replacing this funding with one-time CARES funding.
Rep Donna White, chair of the HHS Appropriations, is aware that this and is communicating with other House members. But it would prudent to reach out and ask House members to not concur with the Senate version until this can be addressed. The potential impact is in loss of transportation for necessary medical services for people with disabilties. Restoring the funding for ROAP is critical for people with disabilities in these rural areas.
We also want to be sure that everyone is aware
that one of the new problems regarding advocacy on this bill is that we are hearing that the Governor's office wants other parts of the bill as is and may be advocating for the House to concur, sacrificing funding to these transport programs in the process.
Drop a note of support to Rep White and your House members in advocating to fix this, and feel free to let the Governor and his staff know that this funding is critical for people with disabilities to work and live in their communities. We certainly hope that we find a solution everyone is happy with.
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Updates and Announcements
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Latest NC COVID-19 response updates.
- NCDHHS Awarded $1.5 Million to Expand Mental Health Support Through Statewide Crisis Counseling Programing
- NCDHHS Allocates $35 Million to Local Health Departments for COVID-19 Response
- Prisons Begin COVID-19 Testing of All Offenders
- New Schools Guidance: StrongSchoolsNC Infection Control and PPE Guidance (K-12)
- Additional Dates Added to Pop-Up Testing Sites
- New Videos Released for Outreach to Farm Workers and Meat Packing Plant Employees
- Updated Reports on Risk Factors for Severe Illnesses and Ongoing Outbreaks in Congregate Living Settings
- Updated CLI Surveillance Report
NCDHHS Awarded $1.5M to Expand Mental Health Support Through Crisis Counseling Programing
NCDHHS has been
awarded $1.5 million to support and expand the Hope4NC program, which connects North Carolinians to mental health supports that help them cope and build resilience during times of crisis. North Carolinians who call the Hope4NC Helpline talk with trained counselors who provide emotional support and share resources on building coping skills during times of crisis. Additional resources and information on staying physically and mentally healthy can be found on the
Managing Overall Health and
Wellness Resources webpages.
NCDHHS Allocates $35M to Local Health Departments for COVID-19 Response
NCDHHS is allocating $35 million in federal funding to local health departments to support the COVID-19 response. Per federal guidelines, counties will be able to use these funds to support COVID-19 staffing, infection controls, testing and tracing, IT infrastructure and data sharing and visualization. "Since the start of the pandemic our local health departments have been working around the clock to protect their communities and slow the spread of the virus. These funds continue to support their ability to address the overwhelming demands they are facing," said NCDHHS Secretary Mandy Cohen, M.D.
View the press release here.
Local health departments will receive a base allocation of $90,000 per county with additional funding based on population size and their cumulative positive COVID-19 caseload. Some local health departments represent multiple counties. You can find out how much each
health department will receive here.
Prisons Begin COVID-19 Testing of All Offenders
State prison officials have initiated a plan to test all 31,000 offenders for COVID-19.This testing of the population is estimated to require at least 60 days to complete, at a projected cost of more than $3.3 million. "Our top priority is everyone's health and safety, and I mean everyone," Commissioner of Prisons Todd Ishee said. "I strongly urge our staff to continue taking advantage of the COVID-19 tests being offered through our State Health Plan/FastMed/LabCorp partners."
Read the full press release here.
COVID-19 tests are already being conducted on all new offenders when they arrive at the prison from the county jails, and population-wide testing is currently underway at Albemarle Correctional Institution in New London. The more than four dozen actions taken by the Department of Prisons to prevent COVID-19 from spreading in prisons, as well as the current data for testing efforts,
can be found here.
New Schools Guidance: StrongSchoolsNC Infection Control and PPE Guidance (K-12)
NCDHHS has
updated its guidance for schools infection control efforts and use of PPE in K-12 settings. This guidance was developed collaboratively between NCDHHS and the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI). This Infection Control and PPE guidance should be used in combination with the
StrongSchoolsNC Public Health Toolkit (K-12), first released on June 8, 2020, which outlines health requirements and recommendations for reopening schools.
In addition, a new FAQ page for StrongSchoolsNC has been added in both
English and
Spanish.
Additional Dates Added to Pop-Up Testing Sites
As organizations partner with communities to increase testing across the state, NCDHHS wants to make sure North Carolinians know about the COVID-19 pop-up community testing events. New dates have been added to this resource,
which can be found here.
New Videos Released for Outreach to Farm Workers and Meat Packing Plant Employees
Farms and meat and poultry processing plants throughout North Carolina appear to be high-risk settings for transmission of COVID-19 due to the nature of the work, challenge for employees to practice social distancing and the continuous nature of the plant operations.
These toolkit materials - which now contain
videos in various languages - can be shared and many of them are available to print and distribute to workers of farms and meat and poultry processing plants.
Updated Reports on Risk Factors for Severe Illnesses and Outbreaks in Congregate Living Settings
Updated CLI Surveillance Report
NCDHHS continues to use all available tools to monitor the spread of COVID-19 across the state. These surveillance systems include information related to outpatient visits, emergency department visits, laboratory data, as well as hospital data from epidemiologists at seven of the state's largest healthcare systems. Find the updated
report on surveillance efforts here.
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Update to SPECIAL BULLETIN COVID-19 #75: Telehealth and Virtual Patient Communications Clinical Policy Modifications - Behavioral Health Service Flexibilities - Innovations and TBI Waivers Appendix K and Developmental Disability State Funded Benefit Plans
On June 17, 2020, updates were made to SPECIAL BULLETIN COVID-19 #75. Procedure Code YP660 has been added. Procedure Code YP021 was listed in error and is no longer billable in NCTracks.
Read More.
SPECIAL BULLETIN COVID-19 #101: Medicaid Providers May Be Eligible for Federal Funding
North Carolina providers that participate in Medicaid may be eligible to receive federal relief as a result of lost revenue or new expenses relating to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. Read More.
Today is the last day to take the NCTracks Annual Provider Survey for 2020 before it closes.
Thank you to those who have already taken the survey. We encourage those who have not yet taken it to do so now - it is newly designed to take less than 10 minutes to complete.
The survey focuses on the aspects of NCTracks that involve direct customer interaction, such as the Call Center, Provider Relations, Training and Communications, as well as Functional Areas, such as Pharmacy Prior Approval and Provider Enrollment. Unless otherwise noted, the time period for which this survey applies is from July 1, 2019 to present. The survey is anonymous unless you choose to identify yourself and is authorized by the NC Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).
We appreciate your participation as we strive to continue to improve our service to providers. Your feedback is valuable to us! Click here to start the survey now.
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Benchmarks WILL be holding our Friday Membership Webinar this week! YAY!!!!
Benchmarks will be holding our Friday Membership Webinar this week and we hope you will join us before we take a break for the week of the 4th of July!
(We will not be holding any Benchmarks' webinar meetings next week).
Date: Friday, June 26, 2020
Time: 8:30 am
Meeting ID: 626 815 379
Password: 081879
One tap mobile
+13126266799,,626815379# US (Chicago)
+19292056099,,626815379# US (New York)
Note: Benchmarks will NOT be holding our Thursday morning Child Welfare Webinar this week or next.
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Reminder, Please Consider
Supporting
This Important Campaign
Please don't forget that CareForNC is launching a COVID-19 #FacesOfTheFrontline campaign during May and June. We work amongst healthcare warriors every day in our field and we're asking you to send in photos and short videos we can share to help our state and communities see the many faces of frontline workers!
These images will be used in our CareForNC campaign #FacesOfTheFrontline. Make sure you sign up to receive our #CareForNC posts and on our Facebook page so your agencies can repost the CareForNC posts! Be sure to use one or all the hashtags listed below on your agency posts.
- #FacesoftheFrontlines
- #NCHeroes
- #CareforNC
- #TogetherOnTheFrontLine
If you do not have a google account to use the Google drive, you can email your pictures and videos to
carefornc@gmail.com.
Many video attachments may be too large to send via email. In that case, please upload your videos to YouTube privately, Dropbox, or use WeTransfer and send a link to the CareForNC email so we can download the file. Be sure to include:
- Your Name
- Organization Name
- County or Counties You Serve
- Email
- Description of Content
- Any Additional Information
Below are some links to provide you additional information to help you create your own #FacesOfTheFronline posts and for video and picture submissions to CareForNC.
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Wednesday: June 24, 2020
Paycheck Protection Update:
An Overview of Key Aspects of Loan Forgiveness and the PPP Flexibility Act
Time: 10:00 am thru 11:00 am
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Wednesday: June 24, 2020
Child Welfare Agencies and Captives
Time: 3:00 pm thru 4:00 pm
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Thursday: June 25, 2020
Adapting Community Inclusion to Circumstances of 2020
Time: 2:00 pm thru 3:30 pm
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New: Friday, June 26, 2020
Benchmarks' Membership Webinar
Time: 8:30 am
Meeting ID: 626 815 379
Password: 081879
One tap mobile
+13126266799,,626815379# US (Chicago)
+19292056099,,626815379# US (New York)
(We will NOT be holding a Thursday Child Welfare Webinar this week or next)
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Wednesday, July 1, 2020
Ongoing Staff Development in Disability Services
Time: 2:00 pm EST
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Monday: July 20, 2020
Meeting number: 730 385 489
You can also dial 173.243.2.68 and enter your meeting number. Or, join by phone: 1-650-479-3207 Access code: 730 385 489
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Please click on each of the following links to view details sent out from each LME/MCO.
Benchmarks' wants to be sure to make the following list handy for our members to visit and suggests a peek at least once per week to find information that may be pertinent to your agency and contracts.
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