Happy Tuesday! Here is your
NCMS Morning Rounds.
April 28, 2020
NC General Assembly Reconvenes Today
The NC General Assembly heads back into regular session today, with both the House and Senate convening at noon. The House has a busy afternoon planned with three scheduled committee meetings, including the Health Committee at 2:30 p.m.
Only members and staff are permitted in the legislative building due to social distancing restrictions, but the public can see and listen to the proceedings via video and audio links. Watch the House Health Committee meeting via this video link or listen in on this audio link. The House Finance and Education, K-12 Committees also will meet this afternoon. Visit the legislature’s webpage to get the video and audio links to those meetings.
NCMS advocacy staff expects those committees to take up the bill drafts created from the House COVID-19 working groups. We also expect other bills to be filed as well as a variety of amendments. NCMS staff will be closely monitoring all of the meetings to update members on outcomes. Your colleagues on the NCMS’ Legislative Cabinet have identified four priority areas for this session: medical liability, telehealth, financial assistance and tax deferral.
The NCMS remains laser focused on value and our mission of improving the health of all North Carolinians through these legislative efforts during this pandemic.
Learn More about the Crisis Standard of Care Protocol
As previously reported the NCMS, the NC Healthcare Association and the NC Institute of Medicine recently released a protocol to provide recommendations for the triage of all inpatients in the event a pandemic creates demand for critical care resources, such as ventilators, that outstrips the supply. The protocol, which was developed at the request of the NC Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS), resulted from the input of a broad group of stakeholders and is a consensus document.
The protocol is grounded in ethical obligations (including the duty to care, the duty to steward resources to optimize public health, distributive and procedural justice, inclusivity, equity and transparency), but it also specifically promotes objectivity in decision-making and endeavors to avoid conflicts of commitments and minimize moral distress.
To learn more about the protocol from those involved in the development process be sure to sign up for tonight’s webinar that begins at 7 p.m. Register here.
CMS Suspends Advance Payment Program; Reevaluates Accelerated Payment Program
With new funding allocated for the Provider Relief Fund, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced it is suspending its Advance Payment Program to Part B suppliers effective immediately and reevaluating the amounts that will be paid under it’s Accelerated Payment Program.
The Accelerated and Advance Payment (AAP) Programs are typically used to provide emergency funding and address cash flow issues for health care providers and suppliers when there is disruption in claims submission or claims processing.
CMS said it had paid over $100 billion through these programs to ensure health care providers had the resources needed to combat the beginning stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. The agency announced over the weekend it will not be accepting any new applications for the Advance Payment Program, and will be reevaluating all pending and new applications for Accelerated Payments in light of direct payments made available through the US Department of Health & Human Services’ (HHS) Provider Relief Fund.
Learn more about the Provider Relief Fund here. For comprehensive information on this and other sources of help, visit the NCMS’ Economic Relief Resources page.
In addition, the recording of last Friday’s Centene sponsored webinar featuring financial experts answering your questions about the SBA financial relief programs like the Paycheck Protection Program is now available. Access the recording here.
In the News
Stress of Working on Pandemic Frontlines Could Haunt Health Care Providers Later, WRAL, 4-24-20
Introducing STAT’s COVID-19 Drugs and Vaccine Tracker, STAT, 4-27-20
Learning Opportunity
Southern Regional AHEC and Cape Fear Valley Health Systems (CFVHS) will present a webinar on ‘Geriatric Medicine and COVID-19: Optimizing Care for Older Adults in a Time of Pandemic’ with Cathleen Colon-Emerec, MD, Chief, Duke Division of Geriatric Medicine, tomorrow, Wednesday, April 29 from noon to 1 p.m. for the CFVHS Hospital Grand Rounds. Older adults are significantly affected by the novel coronavirus. Dr. Colon-Emeric will update health care providers regarding COVID illness in older adults and discuss strategies for providing care for geriatric patients during this time of pandemic. Register online here or access webinar via WEBEX here. The event number is 663 670 616 and password is tsAcr7EKU97.