Upcoming Benchmarks' Webinars
Please align your calendars with the dates below.
Benchmarks' Friday Membership Webinar
Dave Richard Joins Karen McLeod
Date: Friday, April 2, 2021
Time: 8:30 am thru 9:30 am
Benchmarks' Child Welfare Webinar
Lisa Cauley Joins Karen McLeod
Date: April 8, 2021
Time: 8:00 am thru 9:00 am
New: Benchmarks' Friday Membership Webinar
Andrew Clendenin, United Healthcare, Joins Karen McLeod
Date: Friday, April 16, 2021
Time: 8:30 am thru 9:30 am
Benchmarks' Legislative Report
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Important: Electronic Visit Verification Implementation for Innovations and TBI Waivers Administered by LME-MCOs
NC Medicaid implementation of Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) for the Innovations Waiver, TBI Waiver and (b)(3) services administered by the LME-MCOs has been moved to June 30, 2021. This new date is to allow for additional testing and provider training.
Providers should continue to work with the applicable LME-MCOs to prepare for the June 30, 2021, EVV implementation date for Innovations Waiver, TBI Waiver and (b)(3) services administered by the LME-MCOs.
Tailored Care Management – Provider Manual Addendum
In June 2020, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) released the Tailored Care Management Provider Manual to serve as a resource for provider organizations that are interested in playing a central role in Tailored Care Management and are considering becoming certified as an Advanced Medical Home Plus (AMH+) practice or a Care Management Agency (CMA).
DHHS is releasing an addendum to the Tailored Care Management Provider Manual on community inclusion that addresses the in-reach and transition requirements for AMH+ practices and CMAs delivering Tailored Care Management.
More People Eligible for Vaccine!
Now, people in Group 4 who have a medical condition that puts them at higher risk and people who live in additional congregate settings are eligible for vaccination. The rest of Group 4, which includes other essential workers, will become eligible April 7th.
North Carolina follows the recommendations of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as to who is at higher risk for severe illness from COVID-19, such as asthma, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, sickle cell disease, obesity, or smoking. Our new bilingual flyer outlines all high-risk conditions.
Currently eligible groups – health care workers, long-term care staff and residents, people 65 and older, and child care and school staff – will continue to be prioritized. We want to be sure that frontline workers know that they are eligible. Please share our new frontline worker bilingual flyer with your networks.
As always, we rely on you as a trusted messenger to help people make informed decisions. We have developed a suite of resources to support your outreach efforts. Please visit YourSpotYourShot.nc.gov and vacunate.nc.gov regularly as we add new materials. Our communications toolkit includes:
- Video Library
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Social Media Graphics
- Flyers
- Website and Newsletter Graphics
- Postcards
- Presentation
Medical Care Advisory Committee Handouts:
March 19, 2021
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Medicaid Transformation Provider Education Opportunities, Reminder for Submitting Batch Claims, Updated Provider Permission Matrix Available, and Reminder NCTracks Call Center Closed for Good Friday
REMINDER: Advanced Hot Topics in Medicaid Transformation
Thursday, March 18 | 5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. Register
This webinar is designed to support practice managers, quality improvement professionals, care coordinators and others within your practice who are responsible for meeting the NC Medicaid AMH Tier 2 or 3 requirements. Topics include:
· Panel management
· Healthy Opportunities Screening and Referral
· Health Equity survey & payments
· Glidepath payments
· Network adequacy
· Meet and greet with health plans
· Questions and answers
Health Plan Virtual Meet and Greet Sessions
NC Medicaid and NC Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) are hosting virtual health plan meet and greet sessions beginning on March 23. NC Medicaid consultants and health plan representatives will be available to address your concerns and questions about the transition to Medicaid Managed Care.
Virtual meet and greet sessions are structured as conversations between providers and health plan staff with a question and answer session for participants. Sessions will be delivered live with a recording and transcript made available after each event.
· March 23 and April 6 - Primary Care & Specialty Providers
· March 24 and April 7 - Long Term Services & Supports
· March 25 and April 8 - Behavioral Health Providers
Attention Trading Partners
Reminder for Submitting Batch Claims
NCTracks has recently received feedback from providers that they are unable to upload batch claims. This is generally caused by missteps when submitting batch files. NCTracks has put together a quick reference guide to help providers avoid common mistakes. More Information
Updated Provider Permission Matrix Available
The Provider Permission Matrix (PPM) located on the Provider Enrollment page has been updated. Providers are encouraged to download the updated version to see if their taxonomy enrollment requirements have been updated. The PPM is a great asset for providers to determine what is required for enrollment and/or re-verification (such as fingerprinting, site visits, etc.) depending on provider type.
NCTracks Call Center Closed Good Friday 2021
The NCTracks Call Center will be closed on Good Friday, April 2, 2021 in keeping with the State holiday. The Pharmacy Prior Approval Unit will be open holiday hours from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Friday.
The NCTracks checkwrite schedule is not affected by the Good Friday holiday.
New Medicaid Bulletin as of March 18, 2021
The NC Division of Health Benefits (DHB) has recently published a new Medicaid Bulletin article:
Healthy Opportunities Screening, Assessment and Referral Payment Claims Issue
It has come to the attention of NC Medicaid that Edit 02088, which enforces a rule that coverage of procedure code G9919 for Healthy Opportunities Screening, Assessment and Referrals (HOSAR) positive screenings, be limited to providers affiliated with Carolina Access II based on the rendering provider NPI. More Information
Providers are encouraged to review this information. All bulletin articles, including those related to COVID-19, are available on DHB's Medicaid Bulletin webpage.
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Prevent Child Abuse Member Spotlight Myca Jeter
Science tells us that Connections Matter, especially now. PCANC trained eight Access Family Services staff in the Connections Matter curriculum in February 2020. Tell us about your work with Connections Matter.
Access Family Services has taken on Connections Matter NC, an initiative of Prevent Child Abuse NC (PCANC), and it just fits seamlessly with the work we’re doing as a part of our mission to improve the lives of children and families across the state. We have hosted at least four Connections Matter NC sessions for our foster parents across the state.
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Purpose
This Request for Information (RFI) seeks input on how the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) might learn about and remedy research gaps in knowledge to address mental health disparities in rural people and communities.
Background
Mental health conditions affect individuals of all ages and can place significant burdens on patients, families, and communities. The prevalence of serious mental illness and most psychiatric disorders is comparable between US adults living in rural and metropolitan areas. However, adults and children residing in rural locations do not receive mental health treatment as frequently as adults and children in metropolitan areas. Rural providers tend to have less specialized training compared to providers in metropolitan areas.
The reasons for underlying disparities in mental health treatment for rural populations are well documented and include limited availability of specialty mental health care, the lack of trained mental health providers and coordinated care, and the underutilization of available services. NIMH is committed to identifying critical research needs and to funding innovative studies focusing on reducing disparities in rural and frontier communities. This Request for Information (RFI) seeks information from researchers and providers as well as affected patients, families, community members, and other concerned stakeholders.
Information Requested
Please comment on any or all of the following research topics and how they might reduce or eliminate mental health disparities in rural places. Examples of possible comments are:
- Identifying the gap areas that can be addressed through research.
- Endorsing specific research topics and questions.
- Proposing new avenues to address with research.
- Novel hypotheses on any of the questions, as well as specific suggestions for approaches to answering any of the questions.
- In addition, exploring how the research topics might intersect with and impact diverse populations, to include for example race and ethnicity, culture (including mountain and frontier), immigration status, and sexual and gender minorities, as well as additional challenges faced by rural residents.
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Hospital Mergers Can Hold Down Wage Growth for Some Health Care Workers
Why This Study Is Important
Currently, hospital mergers can trigger antitrust scrutiny if they involve sufficiently large partners and present concerns about anticompetitive behavior that could negatively affect the market for hospital services, such as by raising prices or reducing patient access. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Department of Justice, Congress and outside experts have all recently asked whether merger review should also consider whether merging firms gain labor market power that enables them to hold down employees’ wages.
This paper takes a first-time, empirical look at that question for the hospital sector, informing the discussion of expanding merger review criteria. Through a comprehensive series of analyses, the authors establish that hospital mergers can affect wage growth for some types of workers and attribute these wage impacts to enhanced labor market power rather than to other factors that could also affect wages, such as post-merger changes in managerial practices or production technology.
What This Study Found
- Hospital mergers within the same labor market resulted in statistically significant slowdowns in wage growth, but only for workers whose employment prospects are more closely linked to hospitals and only for mergers that dramatically increased the degree of employer concentration in the local labor market (the top quartile of mergers).
- Over the four years after these high-impact mergers, nominal wages were 4 percent lower for skilled workers and 6.8 percent lower for nurses and pharmacy workers than they would have been absent the merger. The implied reductions in annual wage growth of 1 and 1.7 percentage points are substantial slowdowns relative to average annual nominal wage growth of 3 to 4 percent. Post-merger wage growth was not affected for general workers, who arguably have a wider range of employer options.
- Mergers between hospitals in different labor markets, which by definition do not give participating hospitals more local labor market power, have no impact on post-merger wage growth for their workers.
- Nurse unionization rates and absence of state right-to-work laws, both indicators of greater wage negotiating power for workers, mitigate the effect of hospital mergers in depressing nurse wage growth.
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The Good Stuff in Child Welfare
Parent-Child Care Program Promotes Importance of Children’s Mental Health and Positive Relationships While Teaching Behavior Management Strategies
Parent-Child Care (PC-CARE) is a therapeutic program that helps caregivers and children improve their relationships by teaching them positive communication skills instead of focusing on negative behaviors. Recently, the co-developers of PC-CARE noticed that youth in foster care in Sacramento, CA were moving foster placements due to displaying difficult behaviors more often than youth in the rest of California.
They have partnered with the Sacramento Department of Child, Family and Adult Services in order to provide this program to youth in foster care. This student-run newspaper at UC Davis highlights the work PC-CARE has been doing in Sacramento to preserve placements and provide stability for children in foster care.
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March 2021 marks one year since the beginning of state-mandated stay-at-home orders and workplace shutdowns due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has caused the most significant disruption to workplaces in generations, and not just in terms of barking dogs, homeschooling, gate-crashers at virtual meetings, and sweat pants. The pandemic forced employers and employees to quickly pivot and change.
On March 12, 2021, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a National Emphasis Program (NEP) related to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). The purpose of the NEP is to ensure that “employees in high-hazard industries are protected from the hazard of contracting SARS-CoV-2”; the NEP directs OSHA to target worksites that have workers with increased potential exposure to this hazard. In addition, the NEP directs OSHA to ensure that workers are protected from retaliation for raising safety and health concerns related to COVID-19.
Many employers that have Section 9501 of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (the “ARPA”) requires employers to extend offers of free COBRA coverage to certain individuals for the period from April 1, 2021 through September 30, 2021. The ARPA then provides tax credits as means of offsetting the costs of the free COBRA coverage. The law also requires employers to extend offers of COBRA coverage to other individuals whose right to COBRA coverage previously ended.
The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which governs most private sector labor relations, is administered by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Under the Trump administration, the NLRB took a decidedly pro-business position on many issues that impacted union organizing. As President Biden continues to roll out his agenda, the administration intends to reverse many of these policies, taking a pro-employee stance akin to what was in effect in the Obama years.
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Tax Day for individual taxpayers extended to May 17
This postponement applies to individual taxpayers, including individuals who pay self-employment tax.
See the news release for more information, including:
- No need to file forms or call for this automatic relief
- Postponing federal tax payments
- This does not apply to estimated tax payments
- State tax returns
- Winter storm disaster relief
American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 – Don’t file related amended returns yet
The IRS is reviewing implementation plans for the newly enacted American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.
Additional information will be made available as soon as possible about:
- Unemployment (IRS emphasizes not filing amended returns, until it issues additional guidance)
- New round of Economic Impact Payments
- Child Tax Credit, including advance payments
- Other tax provisions
Guidance on Employee Retention Credit
The IRS issued guidance for employers claiming the employee retention credit under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), as modified by the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2020 (Relief Act), for calendar quarters in 2020. This guidance applies to qualified wages paid after March 12, 2020, and before January 1, 2021 and includes clarifications and describes retroactive changes applicable to 2020, primarily relating to expanded eligibility for the credit.
The IRS plans to release additional guidance soon addressing changes for 2021.
What employers need to know about repayment of deferred payroll taxes
The CARES Act allowed employers to defer payment of the employer's share of Social Security tax. Employers must pay back these deferred taxes by their applicable dates.
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Monday, March 22, 2021
Reframing Childhood Adversity: Promoting Upstream Approaches
Time: 2:00 pm thru 3:30 pm
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Tuesday, March 23, 2021
Virtual Career Fair for Individuals with Disabilities
Time: 9:00 am thru 4:00 pm
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Tuesday, March 23, 2021
Labor Trafficking in the US
Time: 10:00 am thru 12:00 pm
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Thursday, March 23, 2021
IDD and Me, Understanding and Supporting Individuals with IDD
Time: 2:00 pm thru 3:00 pm
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Wednesday, March 24, 2021
Are You Ready For Value-Based Reimbursement? An Executive Guide For Assessing Readiness In A Value-Based Market
Time: 10:00 am thru 11:15 am
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Wednesday, March 24, 2021
Partners Community Cafe' Occurs Monthly, Fourth Wednesday of the Month
This Month's Topic: Medicaid Transformation-An Introductory Discussion
Time: 10:00 am thru 11:00 am
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Wednesday, March 24, 2021
THE CONFIDENTIALITY OF SUBSTANCE USE DISORDER RECORDS COMPREHENSIVE OVERVIEW AND RECENT CHANGES
The Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services is pleased to offer, in conjunction with UNC School of Government and the Governor’s Institute, free training on 42 CFR, the federal code specific to confidentiality of patient records for individuals with substance use disorders.
The training will cover the current regulations, including recent changes.
3 Hours of CEUs are available for SUD professionals and there is no cost to participate.
Time: 12:30 pm thru 3:30 pm
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Wednesday, March 24, 2021
It's OK Not to Be OK: Physician Burnout and Mental Health
Time: 2:00 pm thru 3:00 pm
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Thursday, March 25, 2021
Federal Panel Discussion on Rural Health
Time: 12:00 pm thru 1:30 pm
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Friday, March 26, 2021
NC DHHS Supported Living Level 2 &3
STAKEHOLDERS MEETING
Time: 2:30 pm thru 4:30 pm
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Tuesday, March 30, 2021
Rehabilitative or Habilitative:
What is the Difference and How Does it Affect Services
Time: 12:00 pm thru 1:00 pm
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Tuesday, March 30, 2021
Time: 1:00 pm thru 1:30 pm
Watch the livestream event on NIMH’s
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Tuesday, March 30, 2021
Youth At-Risk of Homelessness (YARH2) Webinar Series
Time: 1:00 pm thru 2:00 pm
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Tuesday, March 30, 2021
Police Interactions and Creating Positive Outcomes
Time: 2:00 pm thru 3:00 pm
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Friday, April 2, 2021
Benchmarks' Friday Membership Webinar
Dave Richard Joins Karen McLeod
Time: 8:30 am thru 9:30 am
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Wednesday, April 7, 2021
Identifying Bias and Addressing Stigma in the Clinical Setting
Time: 12:00 pm thru 1:00 pm
These sessions are approved for continuing education credits for doctors, nurses, and social workers (live attendance only). The University of Vermont designates each session of this internet live activity for a maximum of:
- 1 AMA PRA Category 1 credit(s)TM: each physician should claim only those credits commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity;
- up to 1 Nursing Contact Hours; and
- 1 general continuing education credits for social workers completing this course
- 1 Interprofessional Continuing Education (IPCE) Credit
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Thursday, April 8, 2021
Benchmarks' Child Welfare Webinar
Lisa Cauley Joins Karen McLeod
Time: 8:00 am thru 9:00 am
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New: Friday, April 16, 2021
Benchmarks' Friday Membership Webinar
Andrew Clendenin, United Healthcare Joins Karen McLeod
Time: 8:30 am thru 9:30 am
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Wednesday, April 21, 2021
Bridging The Gap From Data To Data-Driven Performance
Time: 10:00 am thru 11:15 am
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April 28, 2021
The Ethics of Feedback within the Therapeutic Milieu
Time: 9:30 am thru 11:45 am
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Wednesday, April 28, 2021
Understanding the Harm Reduction Approach:
Principles and Practice
Time: 12:00 pm thru 1:00 pm
These sessions are approved for continuing education credits for doctors, nurses, and social workers (live attendance only). The University of Vermont designates each session of this internet live activity for a maximum of:
- 1 AMA PRA Category 1 credit(s)TM: each physician should claim only those credits commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity;
- up to 1 Nursing Contact Hours; and
- 1 general continuing education credits for social workers completing this course
- 1 Interprofessional Continuing Education (IPCE) Credit
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New: Tuesday, May 4, 2021
Time: 12:00 pm thru 1:00 pm
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Wednesday, May 26, 2021
Developing New VBP Services That Increase Quality & Decrease Service Costs
Time: 10:00 am thru 11:15 am
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New: Tuesday, June 8, 2021
Time: 12:00 pm thru 1:00 pm
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