Here is your Tuesday NCMS Morning Rounds.

Dec. 2, 2020

State Funds for Uninsured Needing COVID-related Primary Care

The NC Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) reminds you that you may receive reimbursement for COVID-19 related primary care services provided to individuals who are uninsured and living in North Carolina. The $7.8 million in funding is available on a first-come, first-served basis until Dec. 30, 2020. So far, only about $60,000 has been spent leaving the bulk of the funding still available.

COVID-19 related primary care services can include but are not limited to the following situations:
• An individual lost their health insurance due to the COVID-19 pandemic and requires primary care;
• An uninsured individual requires treatment of conditions that put them at a higher risk for COVID-19 infection;
• An uninsured individual’s medical conditions have worsened due to the COVID-19 pandemic and require treatment; and/or
• An uninsured individual tested positive for COVID-19 and requires treatment.

The Department encourages you to submit your claims for reimbursement through the NCTracks secure portal. To assist with the submission process, please use the Job Aid (ORH COVID-19 Claim Submission) located under the heading Claims Submission on the User Guides & Fact Sheets page. The Job Aid will also be accessible in SkillPort (the secure NCTracks Learning Management System) shortly.

For weekly funding updates, check the COVID-19 Related Services for Uninsured Individuals webpage.

Safe Medication Storage Resource for Patients

The NC Medical Board has distributed over 8,100 safe medication storage and disposal pad to help educate patients on how to store and dispose of unused or expired medication safely.

The NCMB collaborated with several partners, including the NCMS, to develop this resource. Information is printed on a two-sided color tearsheet, which can be given to patients when prescriptions – especially for frequently abused medications such as opioids, benzodiazepines and stimulants – are issued.

Download a tearsheet in English (or Spanish) to give to your patients. Or order, free of charge, pads with 50 tearsheets each for your practice here.

Learn more about safe medication storage and disposal at the NC Medical Board website here.

NC Health Care Policy Legislative Preview

The NCMS will be participating in a 2021 Health Care Policy Preview forum to be held Wednesday, Dec. 9 beginning at 1 p.m. Hosted by The Insider, a daily online newsletter covering state government, NCMS Director of Legislative Relations Sue Ann Forrest, MPA, will be a featured guest along with Sen. Joyce Krawiec (R-Forsyth), chair of the NC Senate Health Care Committee and Rep. Gale Adcock (D-Wake), a member of the NC House Health Committee and others.

Topics to be discussed are those likely to come up when the General Assembly reconvenes for its regular legislative session in January including Medicaid and deregulation efforts. Insider editor Colin Campbell will moderate. Attendees of this free event are encouraged to submit questions in advance by emailing them to Campbell at [email protected].

Learn more and register here.

In the News

The Race to Make Vials for the Coronavirus Vaccine, The New Yorker, 12-7-20

Learning Opportunity

Please join us this Friday, Dec. 4 at noon — a new time — for our KIPL Power Hour when we will continue to explore racism and health equity. the focus will be on the need to actively engage in how to address this critical issue in North Carolina and what we as individuals, as organizations and as a society can do to actively drive change. Join our guests as they provide their thoughts and perspectives around the topic and share specific action. Learn more and 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!