Happy Thursday! Enjoy your NCMS Morning Rounds!

November 18, 2021

2021 State Budget Update

The General Assembly released its proposed compromise budget on Monday, and Governor Cooper announced on Tuesday that he will sign the bill. Highlights from the budget include the following:

  • $1.5 million for the statewide telepsychiatry program
  • $4 million for loan repayment (physicians, PAs, NPs, dentists)
  • $1.5 million to the Medical Society for the Foundation for Children with Neuroimmune Disorders
  • $102 million for vaccination efforts
  • $36 million local health departments
  • 115 new positions for school psychologists
  • $40 million in food bank funds
  • $75 million for Brody School of Medicine – East Carolina University
  • $950 million for broadband
  • Medicaid: extends eligibility for certain pregnant women; parental eligibility when child is in foster care; 2022 legislative study on health care
  • $8 million for expansion of the Community Supervision Pilot for Substance Abuse

Be on the lookout for a detailed summary of the budget on the NCMS Legislative Blog later this week!

Get To Know Your NCMS Foundation Board of Trustees Member Kelly Pring 

The NCMS Foundation would like to welcome one of its newest Board of Trustees members, Kelly Pring. Ms. Pring, originally from Raleigh, NC, is a second-year medical student at Wake Forest School of Medicine. She completed her bachelor’s degree in Biology with minors in Neuroscience and Chemistry at the University of North Carolina in 2019. In addition to her studies, Ms. Pring volunteers at the Delivering Equal Access to Care (DEAC) clinic through Wake Forest School of Medicine. She also participates in research examining the use of Telemedicine in the ambulatory Neurology clinic setting. Currently, she hopes to pursue her residency training in Child Neurology upon graduation in 2024.

Doctors and Clinicians Preview Period Is Now Open

The Doctors and Clinicians Preview Period is officially open as of November 15, 2021. You can now preview your 2020 Quality Payment Program (QPP) performance information before it will appear on clinician and group profile pages on Medicare Care Compare and in the Provider Data Catalog (PDC). You can access the secured Preview through the QPP website.

Learn more here.

In the News

Sepsis-Related Deaths Highest among Older People, CDC Finds, Becker’s, 11-16-21

Learning Opportunity

Federal Efforts to Achieve Health Equity in Rural Communities, Thursday, November 18, 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. ET
Learn about federal efforts to achieve health equity in rural America. Panelists will present on strategies the Administration is taking to prioritize health equity and eliminate disparities in health access, policy, and practice.
Register 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!