Terrific Thursday! Enjoy your NCMS Morning Rounds.
June 24, 2021
White House Conversation: North Carolina Primary Care Providers and the Vaccination Rollout
On behalf of the White House COVID-19 Response Team and North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper’s Office, you are invited to a virtual conversation on North Carolina Primary Care Providers and the Vaccination Rollout. The event is on Tuesday, June 29, from 4:00 – 5:00 PM ET.
The conversation will be an opportunity to express gratitude to North Carolina’s primary care providers for their service to their patients, state, and country throughout the COVID-19 response and vaccine rollout. Speakers will discuss the critical role primary care providers continue to play in this phase of the vaccination effort — including through vaccine education to their patients and through offering vaccinations in their offices — and the tools the federal government and State of North Carolina are providing to support them. Attendees will hear from fellow primary care providers in North Carolina on innovative approaches they are taking to patient outreach and implementing their own vaccination programs. Additionally, attendees will be able to pose questions about the role of primary care providers in the current phase of the vaccination effort and the challenges or concerns they face.
RSVP and submit questions for the session here.
Vaccination Counseling Code Reimbursement
Effective June 22, 2021, CPT 99401: Preventative medicine counseling and/or risk factor reduction intervention (s) provided to an individual, up to 15 minutes has been added to counsel Medicaid beneficiaries regarding the benefits of receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.
CPT 99401 can be billed at only one visit for each beneficiary per day, but there are not quantity limits for the number of times this education is provided to an individual beneficiary.
Providers must bill CPT 99401 with a CR modifier and there is no requirement for a specific diagnosis code.
Providers are encouraged to counsel Medicaid beneficiaries of any age. Parents or guardians of Medicaid children can be counseled on the benefit of receiving the COVID-19 vaccination even if the parent or guardian is not enrolled in NC Medicaid. The counseling session for the parent or guardian can be billed to the child’s Medicaid ID.
This service can be provided by MD/DO, NP, PA, CNM and if provided at LHD, FQHC or RHC will be reimbursed outside of the PPS rate.
For questions or concerns, contact the NCTracks Call Center: 800-688-6696
Tracking COVID-19 Trends – You Make It Possible!
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the NCMS, the NC Medical Group Management Association and Curi have been sending surveys regularly to our members to track the impact the pandemic is having on your practice. Thank you to everyone who consistently responds to this survey! Your participation allows us – and you – to get a snapshot of where medical practices in North Carolina are financially, with PPE supplies, telehealth and staffing among other issues. This valuable data helps inform our advocacy and resource development on your behalf.
The most recent survey examined trends in medical practice protocols in response to the pandemic, comparing how office procedures have evolved over time. View the survey data comparison now
Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to complete these surveys. This data is made possible because of your participation.
In the News
Medicaid Is Officially Bigger Than Ever. What Does Its Future Hold?, Advisory Board, 6-22-21
Learning Opportunity
Healthcare Workers Toolkit, Thursday June 24th, 1:00-1:30 pm ET
The HHS We Can Do This campaign is a national initiative working hand in hand with trusted leaders and community organizations to continue to build confidence in COVID-19 vaccines and get more people vaccinated. This campaign offers tailored resources and toolkits for stakeholders to use to provide COVID-19 vaccine information to at-risk populations.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is partnering with the campaign to offer several webinars to walk through each toolkit and its resources and train community organizations, local voices and trusted leaders to use the campaign tools for vaccine outreach efforts to diverse communities.
Register here.
More information on the We Can Do This campaign can be found here.
If you have policies you’d like your NCMS Board of Directors to consider, please complete the Board input form here. Thanks for reading!