Upcoming Benchmarks' Webinars
Please align your calendars with the dates and links below. Due to Zoom updates, meetings may require distinct & NEW registrations.

Benchmarks' Friday Membership Webinar
Date: Friday, April 30, 2021
Time:  8:30 am thru 9:30 am

Benchmarks' Child Welfare Webinar
Lisa Cauley Joins Karen McLeod
Date: May 13, 2021
Time: 8:00 am thru 9:00 am

Updated Link Includes Registration: Benchmarks' Friday Membership Webinar
Dave Richard Joins Karen McLead
Date: Friday, May 28, 2021
Time:  8:30 am thru 9:30 am

Healthy Opportunities Screening and Referral Claims Issue Updates
Two updates have been made in NCTracks for Healthy Opportunities Screening and Referral (HOSAR) claims.
Providers with Denials for HOSAR Claims due to Edit 02088 May Now Resubmit Claims
An issue was identified with provider claims denying due to edit 02088 which enforces a rule that coverage of the procedure code G9919 for HOSAR positive screenings be limited to providers affiliated with Carolina Access II based on the rendering provider NPI. Upon review by the State, the edit disposition has now been updated to allow the claims to be properly adjudicated by updating the affiliation basis to the billing provider NPI. Affected providers should resubmit claims that were denied for this issue.

Place of Service (POS) Indicator Codes Updated
Some claims have also denied for Place of Service (POS) mismatch. A table of allowable POS codes for billing G9919 are available in the Medicaid bulletin article.  
For more information, please see the Healthy Opportunities Screening and Referral Claims Issue Update Medicaid bulletin article.

COVID-19 Stakeholder Update
PRESS RELEASES since the last update include:

From the Governor’s Office:
 
NEW resources since the last update include:

UPDATED guidance since the last update includes:

UPDATED reports since the last update include:
·        County Alert System
·        Vaccinations Dashboard
·        Vaccine Equity Report
·        Outbreaks and Clusters Reports
·        CLI Surveillance Report
·        NEW MIS-C report
NEW EVENTS ADDED to the community testing events page
 
UPDATED Contact Tracing numbers

Tailored Care Management Certification Desk Review Guide and Scoring Tool Available
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) continues to prepare for the launch of Behavioral Health and Intellectual/Developmental Disability (I/DD) Tailored Plans on July 1, 2022.

Through Tailored Care Management, Behavioral Health I/DD Tailored Plan beneficiaries will have a single designated care manager supported by a multidisciplinary care team to provide whole-person care management that addresses all of their needs, spanning: physical health, behavioral health, I/DD, traumatic brain injuries (TBI), pharmacy, long-term services and supports (LTSS) and unmet health-related resource needs.

The Department is releasing the draft Tailored Care Management Desk Review Guide and Scoring Tool to support providers applying for AMH+ or Care Management Agency (CMA) certification. The tool can be found on the NC Medicaid Tailored Care Management webpage under Resources.

The Department will use this document during the desk review phase of the certification process to score providers submitting the AMH+ and CMA Certification Application for Tailored Care Management. Providers that pass this desk review will move on to the site review portion of the certification process. The Department is making this document publicly available to give applicants more guidance on what reviewers will be looking for when assessing an application.



NC's 1115 SUD Waiver Slidedeck and Recap

USDA Grant Opportunity for Rural Telehealth
What does this program do? This grant program helps rural communities acquire the technology and training necessary to connect educational and medical professionals with students, teachers, and patients in rural areas. 
Public Health Alert: Increase in Disseminated Gonococcal Infections
Please see the public health alert regarding the increase in disseminated gonococcal infections reported in North Carolina in 2020 from the North Carolina Division of Public Health. The timely diagnosis and treatment of urogenital and extragenital gonococcal infections is critical to preventing this rare but serious complication. Please contact the Communicable Disease Branch at (919) 733-3419 with any questions or concerns.
 
Reminder: Virtual Office Hours
Thursday, April 22 from 4-5 p.m. | Register
 
Virtual Office Hours offer an interactive format for providers to have their questions answered. This session will focus on the Provider Directory, enrollment news and hot topics. Participants are encouraged to submit questions in advance to [email protected] for discussion.
 
Information and presentations from previous webinars about the transition to NC Medicaid Managed Care are available here, as well as a schedule of upcoming webinars and events.
 
New Medicaid Bulletins Available as of April 20, 2021
The NC Division of Health Benefits (DHB) has recently published new Medicaid Bulletin articles:
 
  • Tailored Care Management Certification Desk Review Guide and Scoring Tool Available
  • Clinical Pharmacy Practitioner Fee Schedule Changes Effective April 6, 2021
 
Providers are encouraged to review this information. All bulletin articles, including those related to COVID-19, are available on DHB's Medicaid Bulletin webpage.

Preparation for Upcoming Changes in NCTracks
This weekend, changes are being implemented in the NCTracks system. In order to prepare for these changes, an update will be made that may impact providers and operations users logging into NCTracks secure portals as early as April 23, 2021. If this issue occurs, it is advised that users should clear the cookies from the browser they are using to access NCTracks and try again.
 
For more information on how to clear cookies from your browser please use the following link: https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-delete-cookies-2617981
 
For more information on the upcoming changes please see the list of changes below:
 

Correction to 835 Transactions
The April 13, 2021, 835 transactions issued by NCTracks contained a "406" qualifier in the DTM-Production Date segment. The correct qualifier is "405." The issue has been resolved for future 835 files. NCTracks will regenerate the April 13, 2021, 835 transactions by April 23, 2021. No further action is needed by trading partners.
Health Plan Virtual Meet & Greets
You can view all of the recordings for the AHEC hosted PHP Meet & Greets, they include two sets of recordings for each category: Primary Care & Specialty Providers, Long-Term Services & Supports, and Behavioral Health. We are including some of the videos below.

Long-Term Services & Supports
Behavioral Health Providers
The Power of Positive Attention
How to use it (instead of negative attention) to change behavior.
So what does this look like in practice? Positive attention can take many forms, including verbal praise, hugs, kisses, high fives or rewards. It may look different for a three-year-old than it does for a teen, but the basic idea is the same.

The key, explains Lindsay Gerber, PsyD, a clinical psychologist at the Child Mind Institute, is being as descriptive and specific as possible in your praise so that children know exactly what behavior they should replicate. Experts sometimes call this giving “labeled praise.”

How to Help Children Calm Down
Techniques for helping kids handle powerful emotions.
The good news is that learning to calm down instead of acting out is a skill that can be taught.

Choosing a Parent Training Program
What all the programs have in common is that they teach parents how to use praise, or positive reinforcement, more effectively, to encourage the behaviors they want to encourage. And they teach parents how to deploy consistent consequences when kids don’t comply. The result is that kids learn to modulate their behavior to meet expectations and enjoy much more positive interactions with their parents.

Where the programs differ is in how instruction is delivered, how parents practice the skills they’re learning, and the pace at which they’re expected to master these new skills. The programs involve 10 or more sessions, and they target different age groups of children.

These programs include....Read More
A new resource from Mathematica and Child Trends, called The State Child Abuse & Neglect (SCAN) Policies Database, will improve the way in which the field analyzes child welfare data to learn more about child maltreatment incidence across the United States.

The SCAN Policies Database makes it easier for researchers, analysts, policymakers, child welfare agencies, and others to broaden their understanding of how differences in state laws and policies might influence state variability in reported rates of child abuse and neglect. 
Our new analysis on employment projections examines how COVID-19 may impact future demand for direct care workers. 

In September 2020, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released new employment projections—and once again, the outlook on the direct care workforce is daunting.

From 2019 to 2029, this workforce is projected to add nearly 1.3 million new direct care jobs, including one million home care jobs, 163,000 residential care jobs, and 119,000 direct care jobs in other industries, like hospitals, vocational rehabilitation services, and more. This dramatic workforce growth will be offset slightly by the loss of 10,000 nursing assistant jobs in nursing homes.
COVID-19 Funeral Assistance
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought overwhelming grief to many families. At FEMA, our mission is to help people before, during and after disasters. We are dedicated to helping ease some of the financial stress and burden caused by the virus.

Under the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2021 and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, FEMA is providing financial assistance for COVID-19 related funeral expenses incurred after January 20, 2020.
Lawmakers and many employer organizations have urged the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) to issue guidance to companies that are considering providing incentives to employees who get the COVID-19 vaccine. Specifically, Sen. Richard Burr and Rep. Virginia Foxx stressed the importance of guiding employers that want to protect their employees stating . . .  

Employer has a COVID-19 policy requiring employees with COVID-like symptoms or exposure to a COVID-positive (or suspected COVID-positive) person to report the same to Human Resources. If reported, the employee is required to not come to work (or go home) and to self-isolate or quarantine for 14 days, consistent with CDC Guidance. Seems easy enough. But then an employee calls work exactly two weeks prior to a company-paid holiday, and reports not feeling well (fever, slight cough, and muscle fatigue) – typical COVID-19 symptoms. The employee is told to stay home and “get better,” but not to come to work for 14 days consistent with CDC guidance and company policy.  
IRS provides guidance for employers claiming the Employee Retention Credit for first two quarters of 2021
The Internal Revenue Service issued guidance for employers claiming the Employee Retention Credit under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) modified by the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2020 (Relief Act).
To review these changes, see Notice 2021-23.

Free workshop helps small business owners understand and meet tax obligations
The Small Business Virtual Tax Workshop helps educate small business owners about their taxes. It’s free and available online 24/7.

The updated chapters contain direct links to more specific topics within each lesson, like chapters in a book. Viewers can choose the lessons that apply to their small business. They can also pause and bookmark lessons so they can review information later.

The IRS to recalculate taxes on unemployment benefits; refunds to start in May
The IRS will take steps to automatically refund money to people who filed their tax return reporting unemployment compensation before the recent changes made by the American Rescue Plan. The legislation was signed on March 11.

The new IRS guidance includes details for those eligible taxpayers who have not yet filed.

IRS, Treasury disburse more Economic Impact Payments under the American Rescue Plan; Non-filer Social Security and other federal beneficiary stimulus payments 
As work continues on issuing millions of Economic Impact Payments to Americans, the IRS and Treasury Department announced that they anticipate payments will begin to be issued this weekend to Social Security recipients and other federal beneficiaries who do not normally file a tax return, with the projection that the majority of these payments would be sent electronically and received on April 7, 2021.

Many federal beneficiaries who filed 2019 or 2020 returns or used the Non-Filers tool last year were issued Economic Impact Payments, if eligible, during the last three weeks.
Most Social Security retirement and disability beneficiaries, railroad retirees and recipients of veterans’ benefits who are eligible for an Economic Impact Payment do not need to take any action to receive a payment.

IRS urges employers to take advantage of the Work Opportunity Tax Credit
Giving someone a work opportunity may translate into a business tax credit for you and greater stability for a family. The Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) is a federal tax credit available to employers for hiring individuals from certain targeted groups who have consistently faced significant barriers to employment.

Taxable Fringe Benefit Essentials for Employers Webinar
The IRS Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division and the Office of Federal, State and Local Governments would like to invite small businesses to register to watch the free Taxable Fringe Benefit Essentials for Employers Webinar on April 14, 2021 at 1:00 p.m. (ET).

This webinar is designed to explain what a fringe benefit is and how to value a fringe benefit. It will cover the most common fringe benefits and explain if those fringe benefits are taxable.


IRS extends additional tax deadlines for individuals to May 17
The IRS announced that individuals have until May 17, 2021 to meet certain deadlines that would normally fall on April 15, such as making IRA contributions and filing certain claims for refund.

This follows a previous announcement that the federal income tax filing due date for individuals for the 2020 tax year was extended from April 15, 2021, to May 17, 2021.

Notice 2021-21 provides details on the additional tax deadlines.

Face masks and other COVID-19 personal protective equipment to prevent the spread of COVID-19 are tax deductible
The IRS issued Announcement 2021-7 clarifying that the purchase of personal protective equipment for the primary purpose of preventing the spread of coronavirus are deductible medical expenses. In addition to masks, this includes times such as hand sanitizer and sanitizing wipes.

The amounts paid for personal protective equipment are also eligible to be paid or reimbursed under health flexible spending arrangements (health FSAs), Archer medical savings accounts (Archer MSAs), health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs), or health savings accounts (HSAs).
Upcoming Events
New: April 26, 2021
Joint DMHDDSAS and DHB (NC Medicaid) Update Call
For BH/IDD Consumers, Family Members and Community Stakeholders

Time: 2:00 pm thru 3:00 pm
 
April 27, 2021
"Youth Transitions Partnership" 

Time: 1:00 pm thru 2:00 pm
 
April 28, 2021
The Ethics of Feedback within the Therapeutic Milieu 

Time: 9:30 am thru 11:45 am
 
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     
Wednesday, April 28, 2021
Forsythe County/Partners Community Conversation Regarding Disengagement With Cardinal Innovations

Time: 5:30 pm thru 6:30 pm
New: Thursday, April 29, 2021
Charting the Life Course & Person-Centered 
Thinking Webinar

Time: 9:30 am thru 12:30 pm
  
Friday, April 30, 2021
Benchmarks' Friday Membership Webinar

Time: 8:30 am thru 9:30 am
  
New: Thursday, May 6, 2021 (Every 1st Thursday)
Hot Topics in Medicaid Transformation

Time: 5:30 pm thru 6:30 pm
New: Tuesday, May 11, 2021
Both Sides of the Coin:
Protecting Your Own Workforce and Trade Secrets from Potential Raiders, and Minimizing Litigation Risk When Hiring from a Competitor

Time: 1:00 pm thru 2:00 pm
New: Tuesday, May 11, 2021
COVID-19 and the Future of Behavioral Health Care Delivery

Time: 2:30 pm thru 3:30 pm
Thursday, May 13, 2021
Benchmarks' Child Welfare Webinar: Lisa Cauley Joins Karen McLeod

Time: 8:00 am thru 9:00 am
  
New: Thursday, May 20, 2021 (Every 3rd Thursday)
Hot Topics in Medicaid Transformation

Time: 5:30 pm thru 6:30 pm
Wednesday, May 26, 2021
Developing New VBP Services That Increase Quality & Decrease Service Costs 

Time:  10:00 am thru 11:15 am
 
Registration Link Updated: Friday, May 28, 2021
Benchmarks' Friday Membership Webinar

Time: 8:30 am thru 9:30 am
  
New: Thursday, June 3, 2021 (Every 1st Thursday)
Hot Topics in Medicaid Transformation

Time: 5:30 pm thru 6:30 pm
New: Thursday, June 17, 2021 (Every 3rd Thursday)
Hot Topics in Medicaid Transformation

Time: 5:30 pm thru 6:30 pm
New: Monday, July 12, 2021 thru Friday, July 24, 2021
North Carolina Youth Leadership Forum
The North Carolina Youth Leadership Forum (NCYLF) will be a free two-week web series in July that will model online college life for youth with disabilities. Participants will be treated like college students.