Happy Tuesday! Enjoy your NCMS Morning Rounds.
July 6, 2021
NCMS Legislative Update
We’ve gone ‘Live’ with Medicaid Transformation. The go live date happened Thursday, July 1 and started the Medicaid Managed Care process here in North Carolina.
The NCMS has developed a Medicaid Transformation landing page where you can access a wealth of information to help guide you and your practice. Additionally, we have created a Medicaid Transformation Issues form to log any specific issues you are encountering during this transformation. Information we compile from these online forms will be used to better serve you and your patients as we undergo this transition.
HB453 (Human Life Nondiscrimination Act/No Eugenics) was vetoed by the governor. As a reminder, this bill is opposed by the NCMS and the North Carolina Obstetrical & Gynecological Society due to its interference with the physician-patient relationship. This bill was not brought up for an override vote. We will continue to follow this bill, because it’s likely there will be a vote to override.
HB159 (Education Law Changes) There’s a piece in this bill that will aide our school nutrition colleagues in better serving students and enabling more flexibility in their monetary and budget process. Standing alongside the NC School Nutrition Association, the NCMS supports this bill. HB159 moved through Senate Finance but has a few more stops in the process.
SB711 (NC Compassionate Care Act) This bill was previously heard for discussion only in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Last week in the Senate Judiciary Committee it was passed unanimously. This bill will now move onto the Senate Finance Committee.
The NCMS policy is to support more research as it relates to marijuana. You can lookup up specifics of our policy in our NCMS Policy Manual.
SB257 (Medication Cost Transparency Act) The NCMS is supportive of this bill, because it provides greater oversight and regulation of the Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBM). We believe more oversite into these entities will reduce medication costs for patients. This bill moved forward from committee last week and is moving on to the House Health Committee.
New Healthy NC Initiatives
The North Carolina Medical Society (NCMS) and the NCMS Foundation are committed to the population health improvement goals outlined in the NC Institute of Medicine’s Healthy NC 2030. In support of this plan to improve the health and well-being of North Carolinians, we are developing our own Healthy NC initiatives. The first part of this multi-faceted project begins this week as we work with our Community Practitioner Program (CPP) participants to gather data on key health metrics among their patient populations.
Initially, we will engage with five CPP practices, located in underserved areas of the state where patients may face multiple challenges to optimizing their health, and with the Cabarrus County Health Department. We have developed a survey to be used by each CPP practice to gather data on the social determinants of patients’ health. This is an invaluable source of information on the current health environment and behaviors of patients and will help benchmark our progress as we seek to enhance our existing resources and develop new initiatives aimed at improving health as part of Healthy NC.
You may review the survey here.
In the coming months and years, the NCMS will leverage your input and expertise as physicians and PAs as well as our influence in the larger health care community to help move the state toward more positive health outcomes as part of our own Healthy NC initiatives. Watch your NCMS communications, including your soon-to-be published NCMS Bulletin, for more information on the many ways the NCMS is working to improve the health of North Carolinians.
Providers Must Complete Health Equity Payment Initiative Survey by July 16 or Risk Payments Being Recouped
All Carolina Access Providers who received health equity payments are asked to take 5-10 minutes to complete this survey by July 16, 2021. The survey allows DHHS to monitor and evaluate how these payments were used. Practices receiving enhanced payments must complete a practice survey following this health equity initiative; failure to complete the survey may result in NC DHHS recouping payments.
For more about criteria, intended use of funds and resources on health equity, see the Health Equity Payment Initiative Medicaid bulletin article.
In the News
Scientists Devise A Battery-Free Pacemaker That Can Be Absorbed By The Body, STAT, 7-2-21
Learning Opportunity
BURNOUT RECOVERY SUMMIT: Rising From the Fire, July 7-9, 2021, 10am – 6pm EDT
This three-day international summit brings together multi-disciplinary world-renowned healthcare, trauma and educational experts from six different countries to help bring an end to Health Professional Burnout.
Speakers will provide health professionals with much needed practical tools and techniques to support, connect and energize their mind’s, body’s and spirit’s so they can thrive, not just survive, in an ever-evolving, and complex healthcare environment.
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!