Welcome to your Thursday NCMS Morning Rounds.

Jan. 21, 2021

Additional CVMS Training THIS Morning + Webinar Tonight

This morning at 9 a.m. an additional COVID Vaccine Management System (CVMS) Train-the-Trainer – Surge Staff session will be held. For practices looking to administer the COVID-19 vaccine, this system is necessary to document and track vaccinations. The training will run until noon.

Join via Zoom here with passcode 165704.

If you have inquiries about the COVID-19 vaccine as well as any CVMS technology issues, please contact the COVID-19 Vaccines helpdesk here or email the helpdesk at [email protected]. NCMS members may also contact NCMS Director of Member Services Frank Snyder, [email protected], who is serving as NCMS point person on the CVMS to help troubleshoot issues members may be experiencing.

Tonight, don’t forget the NC Medicaid Vaccinations and Administration webinar from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. the latest in the series of Thursday evening webinars hosted by Chief Medical Officer of the NC Division of Health Benefits Shannon Dowler, MD.

The agenda for tonight’s webinar includes:
• Vaccine management in North Carolina, including data and metrics
• Nursing home vaccine administration
• CVMS overview
• History of bias in healthcare
• Messages to the public
• Best practices for providers
• Vaccine playbook
• Tools and supports
• Questions and answers

Learn more and register here.

Your Input Needed on COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout

Please take just a moment to complete the latest urgent practice survey. This brief survey has been distributed by the NCMS, Curi and the NC Medical Group Management Association regularly since the beginning of the pandemic in March. The information you provide has been crucial as each organization seeks to spot trends in the needs of medical practices throughout the state to offer resources and to advocate on your behalf with state officials as you deal with the pandemic.

This week’s survey includes specific questions about the COVID-19 vaccine and your experience in the rollout.

TAKE THE SURVEY.

Thank you to those who have already replied. We will report the details of this latest survey in an upcoming issue of NCMS Morning Rounds.

For an overview of the pandemic and data gathered through the survey throughout the past year, watch this week’s NCMS Foundation/NCMGMA Lunch & Learn webinar in which Sam Cohen, JD, of Curi and one of the survey designers traces the impact of the pandemic on North Carolina practices. Watch the webinar here. The passcode to access the recording is: NCMGMA/NCMS1

Legal Aid to Offer Ombudsman Services to NC Medicaid Beneficiaries

The NC Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) announced yesterday that Legal Aid of North Carolina will provide Medicaid Managed Care Ombudsman services to the state’s Medicaid beneficiaries beginning this spring.

Legal Aid, partnering with the Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy and Pisgah Legal Services, will serve as a central resource to educate and inform beneficiaries about the state’s move to Medicaid Managed Care through outreach events, a public website and a toll-free phone number. The Ombudsman will also help resolve issues within the Medicaid Managed Care delivery system.

As the Ombudsman, Legal Aid will work collaboratively with community-based organizations and government agencies to assist beneficiaries with issues impacting their health. The Ombudsman will be available to address specific Medicaid-related questions from beneficiaries, make referrals to applicable resources and assist in resolving issues with managed care. In addition, the Ombudsman will help track crucial information regarding access to care for ongoing reporting and analysis. This will help identify trends across Medicaid Managed Care to ensure timely attention to potentially systemic issues.

The Ombudsman services provided by Legal Aid are not a replacement for the Grievance and Appeals processes required of each Prepaid Health Plan, nor do the services replace the right of a member to appeal through any State-administered appeals system. These services are distinct from North Carolina’s existing Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program that assists residents of long-term care facilities.

More information about the Ombudsman will be available soon on the NC Medicaid website.

In The News

HHS Awards $20M to Increase COVID-19 Vaccine Data-Sharing Efforts, Becker’s Hospital Review, 1-19-21

Learning Opportunity

The Digital Future of Managing Chronic Conditions, Thursday, Jan. 21 from 2 to 3 pm
Digital health technology is accelerating change on several fronts in the health care ecosystem – shifting the care location to anywhere, anytime and the care model to preventive, personalized, and participatory. In this webinar, learn how a secure, scalable, and intelligent platform can streamline critical business and care workflows, leverage data-driven insights and analytics to risk stratify patients, and create hyper-individualized health planning for each person’s health risk, lifestyle choices, and health goals.

Learn more and register here.

DON’T FORGET tomorrow, Friday, Jan. 22, to tune in to Power Hour beginning at noon when the topic will be COVID-19 and its impact on patients’ mental health.

A few weeks into the new year, the situation with COVID-19 seems far from over and communities across the country wonder when will we see an end to the pandemic. As the health care community struggles to contain the spread, there are growing concerns on the impact on mental health among patients. So how are our patients doing? How are people dealing with and making sense of COVID-19 and how well are systems responding?
Join a chat about COVID-19 and the impact on patients’ mental health.

Moderated by Franklin Walker, MBA, VP Rural Health Systems Innovation, you will have the opportunity to listen and converse with Jennie Byrne, MD, PhD, Staff VP, Clinical Excellence at CareMore Health; Vinay Saranga, MD, Saranga Comprehensive Psychiatry; Robyn Jordan, MD, PhD, Medical Director at UNC Substance Abuse Treatment & Recovery clinic; and Michele Kim, NP, Nurse Practitioner at Cherry Hospital (Inpatient Psychiatric Facility in Goldsboro).

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!