Already Thursday and time for your daily

  NCMS Morning Rounds.

  April 23, 2020

After strong winds from recent thunderstorms ripped part of the banner on our building, now there is a new sign gracing the front of the NCMS Center for Leadership in Medicine in Raleigh for all to see. We’ve already had several positive comments from passers-by.

NCMS Action Alert on Malpractice Liability Protections

The NCMS is asking you to send an Action Alert to North Carolina legislators serving on the House Select Committee on COVID-19 asking them to support medical malpractice liability protections as they consider legislation to address issues arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. The NC General Assembly is scheduled to convene next Tuesday, April 28.

As legislation is being developed, this message to your representatives will help make sure that any bill contains protections for direct COVID-19 treatment as well as for those services impacted by the statewide COVID-19 response. Examples might include limitations on the ability to diagnose, treat or otherwise care for patients due to the unavailability of personal protective equipment (PPE), limitations on access to testing and procedures as well as a host of other difficulties due to state orders and guidance.
Please take a moment now to review this ready-to-send message and urge legislators to support liability protections for you.

Send the Action Alert.

FCC Offers Telehealth Support

This week the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced a $200 million emergency COVID-19 Telehealth Program to help eligible physician and PA practices purchase telecommunications services, information services and devices necessary to provide telemedicine services during this emergency period. The program will provide selected applicants with full funding for these eligible telehealth services and devices. The $200 million program is part of the CARES Act legislation.

The money will be targeted to areas hardest hit by COVID-19 especially areas with a low income population, a health care provider shortage, rural hospital closures and limited broadband/internet access. The program is not limited to only treating COVID-19, it can also be used to “prevent, prepare for and respond to COVID-19. Learn more about the FCC’s Telehealth Program.

In addition, the FCC announced the three-year Connected Care Pilot Program to provide universal service support to help defray health care providers’ qualifying cost of providing connected care services. This pilot program will make available up to $100 million, separate from the Telehealth Program. Learn more about the Connected Care Pilot Program.

In the News

Why Rural America Could be a ‘Tinderbox’ for COVID-19, The Advisory Board Forum, 4-22-20

Learning Opportunity

Eastern AHEC will present a webinar on ‘Using Telehealth to Bridge Social Distancing During COVID-19’ on Tuesday, April 28 from noon to 1:30 p.m. The webinar will provide a practical and evidence-based approach to patient-centered clinical care delivered in whole or in part by technological devices and applications. It will include a discussion of the “nuts and bolts” of delivering telehealth/telepsychiatry services, standardized approaches in telehealth/telepsychiatry care, and discussion of barriers in delivering telehealth/telepsychiatry services. Learn more and register.