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Contents
➥ COVID-19/Clinical
➥ Events and Trainings
➥ Policy and Advocacy
➥ Medicaid Managed Care
➥ Funding Opportunities
➥ Workforce
➥ Member Spotlight
➥ NCCHCA Jobs Board
Focal Point is NCCHCA's twice-weekly newsletter during COVID19. Questions about anything in this newsletter? Email us, If you received this newsletter from someone else but would like to be added to our list, you can  sign up here
COVID-19/Clinical

Governor Cooper Lifts North Carolina’s COVID-19 State of Emergency

Yesterday, Governor Roy Cooper ended the state’s COVID-19 State of Emergency. The state is poised to continue comprehensive pandemic response without the need for the State of Emergency. Many of the state’s public health measures combatting the pandemic had previously been lifted, but the State of Emergency continued to allow the distribution of vaccines and tests and regulatory flexibility to ensure staff capacity in the state’s healthcare system.


HHS Approves Strategy to Stretch Limited Supplies of Monkeypox Vaccine
As expected, HHS approved a new way for providers to inject monkeypox vaccine, which should require using only a fifth as much vaccine per shot. The partial dose of the vaccine would be injected into the upper layer of skin, rather than the full dose into the underlying fat, which is how shots are typically administered. Recipients will still get two doses, four weeks apart. 


CMS Issued New Codes for Monkeypox and Smallpox Vaccines

  • Code 90611 is for smallpox and monkeypox vaccine product
  • Code 90622 is for vaccinia (smallpox) virus vaccine product
If a CHC received the monkeypox vaccines for free from the government, they should only bill for vaccine administration.  
Events and Trainings

NCCHCA Medical Directors Workgroup Meeting
September 13, 2022 | 12:00-1:00 pm

Email Alice Pollard for information. 


340B Programming at CHI
Tuesday, August 30 in Chicago
Register for virtual 340B Day
The in-person 340B Day has reached registration capacity for in-person attendance at CHI on August 30th. If you would like to join the waitlist for in-person attendance, please email Elizabeth Linderbaum at
elinderbaum@nachc.org to be added. Virtual registration is still available for CHI and 340B Day; to register visit the registration page and choose option 2 to register virtually. 


Registration Now Open for NCCHCA’s 2022 Clinical Conference: Breaking Down Barriers
October 20-21 | Winston-Salem
Register
We look forward to welcoming you at our 2022 Clinical Conference, which will be a valuable opportunity for professional development and networking. Please register as an attendee at this link, and reserve your hotel room before the deadline for the group rate (Sept. 30 for the Marriott and Oct. 6 for Embassy Suites). Register as a sponsor or exhibitor at this link.


  
Policy and Advocacy

President Biden Expected to Sign Inflation Reduction Act Today, Which Includes Provisions to Lower Medicare Drug Prices 
(HealthcareDive)

The Inflation Reduction Act, which passed the U.S. House Friday on party lines in a 220-207 vote, now heads to President Joe Biden's desk. 

The Act extends enhanced ACA subsidies originally granted by the American Rescue Plan into 2025, protecting millions of Americans from an anticipated premium hike at the end of the year.

It also allows Medicare to start negotiating the price of some prescription drug prices beginning in 2026 and caps Medicare Part-D out-of-pocket costs in 2025. In a move to further reduce drug prices, the bill also imposes penalizing rebates on pharmaceutical manufacturers who hike drug costs above the rate of inflation starting in 2023.

Although Senate Republicans removed a provision that would instill a $35 cap on insulin for Americans with private insurance, the bill includes a $35 cap on insulin for patients with Medicare.


Annual Essential Community Provider (ECP) Petitions Submission
Deadline tomorrow, 8/17, for inclusion in the final Plan Year 2024 ECP List
Petition Form

The Essential Community Provider petition submission is an annual process that works prospectively. HHS updates this ECP list annually to assist issuers with identifying providers that qualify for inclusion in an issuer's plan network toward satisfaction of the ECP standard under 45 CFR 156.235. 

Per CMS, “For ongoing provider updates, the ECP petition process remains open year-round. Provider petitions submitted between August 19, 2021, and August 17, 2022, will be reviewed for inclusion on the final Plan Year 2024 ECP List. Provider petitions submitted after August 17, 2022, will be reviewed for inclusion on the final Plan Year 2025 ECP List. 

Click here to download a detailed memo with important reminders and instructions.

Click here to visit the CMS website to view all sites currently associated with your organization and submit a petition for each of your facilities. All FQHCs should submit a petition for each of their facilities even if they do not see errors or omissions that require correction.

Medicaid Managed Care

Contracting with Tailored Plans

Beginning Dec. 1, 2022, NC Medicaid will transition approximately 170,000 beneficiaries who may need services for a severe mental health disorder, severe substance use disorder, intellectual/developmental disability (I/DD) or traumatic brain injury (TBI) to Behavioral Health and I/DD Tailored Plans (Tailored Plans). 

Key Tailored Plan Dates

  • Sept. 15, 2022 – Last day for PCPs to have fully executed contracts with Prepaid Health Plans (PHP) for inclusion in PCP Auto-Assignment.
  • Sept. 15, 2022 - Last day for PCPs to have fully executed contracts with Tailored Plans for inclusion in PCP Auto – Assignment
  • Sept. 30, 2022 - Last day for Tailored Care Management providers to have fully executed contracts with Tailored Plans for inclusion in Tailored Care Management Auto-Assignment
  • Oct. 14, 2022 – Last day for beneficiaries to choose a PCP and Tailored Care Management provider before auto-assignment.
  • Post Oct. 14, 2022 – PCP and Tailored Care Management Provider Auto-Assignment for beneficiaries who have not chosen a PCP or Tailored Care Management provider.
  • Dec. 1, 2022 – Behavioral Health I/DD Tailored Plans launch.

Find Tailored Plan contact information here. It is important to contract with multiple, if not all, networks who serve beneficiaries in your community so that existing patients and their families can remain in network.

Find more contracting information and a map of Tailored Plan catchment areas here.


Medicaid Bulletin Roundup
The following recent bulletin(s) from NC Medicaid may be of interest to health centers:


Key Reminders from Previous Newsletter Editions

Funding Opportunities



HRSA Announces Availability of Nearly $15 Million to Expand and Support the Nursing Workforce
Registered Nurse Training Program
Deadline: August 19, 2022
This funding opportunity will provide awards totaling $4.75 million over three years to increase the number of nursing students trained in acute care settings, with an emphasis on addressing and responding to social determinants of health factors and improving health equity.

Clinical Faculty and Preceptor Academies Program
Deadline: August 22, 2022
This funding opportunity will provide awards totaling $10 million over four years to grow the nursing workforce by recruiting, training and supporting clinical nursing faculty and preceptors.


NEW: Department of Labor Growth Opportunities Round 2
Deadline for Round 2: October 5, 2022
Application Link

The Department of Labor (DoL) recently announced awards for Round 1 of the Growth Opportunities (GO) initiative. I am reaching out to you today to ask for your assistance in promoting the Round 2 GO competition (FOA-ETA-22-03).

GO aims to help youth avoid violence and build conflict resolution skills; introduce and prepare youth for the world of work; help youth identify career interests and attain skills and good work habits; and provide income to youth to start them on the path of earning living wages. The grant awards prioritize projects serving high-crime, high-poverty areas, as well as communities where students of color have disproportionate rates of expulsions and suspensions. For more information on this initiative, please see the GO overview.

DoL intends for approximately 50 percent of Round 2 funds to be awarded to applicants that have not received a previous Reentry Employment Opportunities (REO) grant, subject to receiving sufficient fundable applications. We need your help reaching these organizations and making them aware of the GO Round 2 opportunity! Applications must be received by October 5, 2022, for Round 2 consideration.

Workforce

NCCHCA Workforce Development Workgroup

August 24, 2022 | 10 AM ET

Click Here to Register

Join your CHC colleagues to share information, challenges, and best practices on workforce planning, development, and partnerships in your CHCs. Our August meeting will refocus our group on the practical nuts and bolts of strategic workforce planning and our collective work on this effort. We’ll continue with the next edition of Resiliency Reset, and highlight a potential training partnership opportunity.

Member Spotlight

Congratulations to All Community Health Centers on a Successful National Health Center Week
The Association is so proud of all of our members for the work you do throughout the year, and the extra effort you put into recognizing staff and stakeholders and engaging the community during National Health Center Week.

Below are some pictures from Kinston Community Health Center's Community Health and Wellness Fair on Saturday. The event was held in an open area adjacent to the health center and included free dental screenings and mammograms, patient enrollment, a community art project to decorate Kinston CHC's newly opened pharmacy, fitness activities, information on community resources and more! Great job, Kinston CHC - and all the Centers that held events last week.

    
  

NCCHCA Jobs Board
Check out NCCHCA’s jobs page for more CHC jobs in North Carolina. Member health centers can post jobs to the site as well using their website logins. 
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