NCTracks training opportunities for April include:
Friday, April 22 – 9:30 a.m. to noon – Prior Approval – Medical (Professional) will cover submitting Prior Approval (PA) Requests to help ensure compliance with Medicaid clinical coverage policy and medical necessity. It will also cover Prior Approval inquiry to check on the status of the PA Request. The course is being offered in-person at the CSC facility in Raleigh. It includes hands-on training and will be limited to 45 participants.
Wednesday, April 27 – 1 to 4 p.m. – Provider Web Portal Application will guide providers through the process of submitting all types of provider applications found on the NCTracks Provider Portal.  The course is being offered in-person at the CSC facility in Raleigh. It includes hands-on training and will be limited to 45 participants.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will host a call on 2016 PQRS Reporting: Avoiding 2018 Negative Payment Adjustments, on Thursday, April 21 from 3-4:30 p.m. To register visit MLN Connects Event Registration. Space may be limited, register early. This call gives an overview of the 2016 Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) and related resources. The presentation will cover guidance and instructions on how individual eligible professionals and PQRS group practices can get started, satisfactorily report/participate, and avoid the 2018 PQRS negative payment adjustment.

2016 Addiction Medicine Conference, April 22-23 in Asheville, will once again provide up-to-date substance abuse related education, applicable across general medical as well as addiction specialty practices. New this year is a Pre-Conference day on April 21 including two longer, skill-based workshops: Motivational Interviewing: A Foundation for Helping Patients with Substance Use Problems and The ABCs of Pain Management: Skills for the Specialist and Non-specialist Alike. Register Today! For more information contact Shaquita Basemore at 919-256-7416.

Greensboro AHEC is offering a day long course titled “What Do I Say? A Course in Talking About Death and Dying on April 22 OR Nov. 4, at The John A. Lusk, III, MD Caregiving Education Center – the Lusk Center 2501 Summit Avenue, Greensboro, NC. More information and register here.

The Pain Society of the Carolinas (PSOC) urges you to save the dates for several other courses on pain management.
DUKE Pain Meeting, on April 29-May 1, covering cancer pain, palliative care and end-of-life. To be held at the Friday Center in Chapel Hill. CLICK HERE to Register. The FREE Safe Opioid Prescribing Course is immediately preceding the DUKE Pain meeting and satisfies CE requirements in NC and SC.
Save the date for the PSOC Annual Meeting, Sept. 25, at The Omni Grove Park Inn, Asheville NC.

NCHICA 9th Thought Leader Forum, The Internet of Things: Managing, Analyzing & Applying the Data
April 27, 2016, 9:30-11:30 am, Research Triangle Foundation, RTP, NC. Topics and presenters include: How to Manage IoT Data — Joseph Hobbs, Regional CIO, NetApp Healthcare; Applying Analytics to IoT Data — Carol Rigsbee, Quality Manager, SAS; How to Move Your IoT Research Data from Pilot to Platform — John Reites, Head of Digital Health Acceleration, Quintiles; Moderator: Billy Willis, Chief Technology Officer, Duke University Health System. The cost is $50 NCHICA members/$75 non-members/$25 students. Click here to register.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will host a call on the 2016 PQRS Group Practice Reporting Option, Wednesday, May 4 from 3 to 4:30 pm. The call will walk through the Physician Value – Physician Quality Reporting System (PV-PQRS) Registration System, an application that serves the PQRS and Value-Based Payment Modifier (Value Modifier) programs. To Register: Visit MLN Connects Event Registration. Space may be limited, register early.

The NC MGMA will hold its Annual Conference, May 11-13, in Charleston, SC. This year’s conference, “Making Connections,” will tie together the various aspects of what health care administrators are challenges with every day featuring content on finance, customer service, legal, social media and human resources. The Practice of the Year Award also will be presented at this gathering. Learn more and register.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will host a webcast on 2015 Mid-Year QRURs Webcast, Thursday, May 19 from 1:30 to 3 pm. The webcast will give an overview of the 2015 Mid-Year Quality and Resource Use Reports (MYQRURs) and explain how to interpret and use the information. The 2015 MYQRURs were recently released to groups and solo practitioners nationwide and are for informational purposes only. They contain interim information on a subset of the quality and cost measures used to calculate the 2017 Value Modifier (VM). Learn more on the 2015 QRUR and 2017 VM webpage. To register for the webcast visit MLN Connects Event Registration. Space may be limited, register early.

The 129th Annual Scientific Session of The Old North State Medical Society “Integrative Medicine: The Future of Healthcare” will be held June 24th-25th, 2016 at The North Raleigh Hilton in Raleigh. The Session provides ONSMS members, physicians and medical professionals with up-to-date education and peer networking opportunities. Included are a Pre-Conference Training Session to qualify for prescribing Buprenorphine and a broad selection of presentations and breakout sessions, providing an opportunity for up to 22 CMEs for participation at the Conference. For more information, visit the ONSMS website.

 
MAHEC, working with the North Carolina Academy of Family Physicians, The Governor’s Institute on Substance Abuse and Project Lazarus: A Project of CCNC, is offering A Guide to Rational Opioid Prescribing for Chronic Pain, an online education course. The course is designed for all prescribing health care practitioners who are interested in an overview of the rational prescribing approaches for persons with chronic pain disorders. It will fulfill the North Carolina Medical Board’s requirement of at least one hour of continuing education designed specifically to address prescribing practices for chronic pain management. The course cost is $15 for the first 6 months. Offers 3 hours of AAFP, AMA/AAFP Equivalency, and CDE; www.mahec.net/opioid

Watch seven new MLN Connects videos on the Medicare Quality Reporting Programs, focusing on the requirements you need to meet in 2016.  For those who participated in the webinars held in February, the information in these modules mirrors the information shared on those calls:
Introduction: Medicare Quality Reporting Programs: What Eligible Professionals Need to Know in 2016. Run time: 15 minutes.
Module 1: Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) Preview. Run time: 6 minutes.
Module 2: 2016 Incentive Payments and 2018 Payment Adjustments. Run time: 9 minutes.
Module 3: 2016 Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) Updates. Run time: 20 minutes.
Module 4: 2018 Value-Based Payment Modifier (VM) Policies. Run time: 17 minutes.
Module 5: Physician Compare Updates in 2016. Run time: 6 minutes.
Module 6: Meaningful Use of Certified Electronic Health Record Technology (CEHRT) in 2016. Run time: 16 minutes.