Practice Support Newsletter

August 2024

Measure of the Month: August is National Immunization Awareness Month 

Childhood Immunization Status – CIS 10

As priority measure for NC Medicaid Standard Plans and Tailored Plans, they are focusing on improving completing the immunization series for children by their second birthday. Known as Combination 10, immunizing is imperative for a healthy beginning for children. Ranging from DTap to influenza the measure is a calculated rate based on the full combination of vaccines. 

The numerator and denominator are defined as:

• Numerator: Children who received the recommended vaccines by their second birthday
• Denominator: Children who turn 2 years of age during the measurement year

For full measure specifications, including calculation and all exclusion criteria, please refer to the North Carolina Medicaid Quality Technical Specifications (page 73). 

Strategies to help improve your Combo 10 quality measure:

• Inquire about free reminder cards or programs from your vaccine vendors
• Use this form to order free immunization-related material from the Immunization Branch
• NCIR offers free resources and promotional information which can be easily ordered or downloaded
• Leverage your EHR to pull reports 30/60/90 days before the patients' due date to reach out and get them scheduled
• Plan a vaccination clinic with extended hours to help accommodate families
• Work with a AHEC practice support to assist in creating workflows to improve adherence to the appropriate vaccine schedule for the patients

Coding Corner: Simplified Outpatient Documentation and Coding

AMA has created a toolkit that has four key steps to optimizing documentation and coding. This toolkit describes the most recent billing and coding documentation guidelines and provides workflow solutions examples for more efficient documentation. They highlight these four STEPS:

1. Understand Current Guidelines and How They Benefit You
2. Engage Key Players
3. Educate Physicians and Other Team Members
4. Develop Team Documentation Workflows

Regulatory Reminders: 

Professional Use of Social Media

Social media is often a great way to connect with the public and market your practice, but it comes with responsibility. The North Carolina Medical Board “recognizes that social media has increasing relevance to professionals and supports its responsible use. However, licensed health care professionals are held to a higher standard than others with respect to social media because health care professionals, unlike members of the lay public, are bound by ethical and professional obligations that extend beyond the exam room. The informality of social media sites may obscure the serious implications and long-term consequences of certain types of postings.” 

The Professional Use of Social Media position statement incudes: 

• Licensees must understand that the code of conduct that governs their face-to-face encounters with patients also extends to online activity
• Licensees have an absolute obligation to maintain patient privacy
• A licensee’s publicly available online content directly reflects on his or her professionalism
• Because privacy is never absolute, considerations of professionalism should also extend to a licensee’s personal accounts

Please review the full position statement of the NC Medical Board. 

Do you have a question about pediatric or perinatal mental health? NC-PALS is here to help.

The NC-PAL access line is available Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. to support health care providers with questions about the behavioral health needs of pediatric and perinatal patients. 

The phone line has been designed for health care providers to quickly connect with the child psychiatry specialists. Calls are answered live by one of our NC-PAL Behavioral Health Consultants (BHCs). NC-PALs BHC team is ready to help connect callers with behavioral health and local resources, respond to questions, and connect callers with on-call psychiatrists for support with diagnostic clarification and medication management. You can enroll here. 

Additionally, NC-PALS offers continuing education and residency training. To learn more, click here. 

Tobacco-Related Policy Requirements Delayed until July 1, 2025

Tobacco-related policy requirements will be effective July 1, 2025, for NC Medicaid Managed Care Standard Plans, Behavioral Health and Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities (I/DD) Tailored Plans, and Local Management Entity/Managed Care Organizations (LME/MCOs) contracted medical, behavioral health, I/DD and traumatic brain injury (TBI) service providers. To review the details of the policy requirements, please refer to the original bulletin.

Would you like to better understand how HCC coding works?

Our colleagues at MAHEC have created online courses that will help clinicians, as well as support staff, understand the ins and outs of Hierarchical Condition Coding (HCC). The courses are self-guided so you can take them at your own pace. For access, you will need to register. 

Documentation is Key for Hierarchical Condition Categories (HCCs) for Coders 

• Target Audience: Coders, Practice Managers, Billers, Practice Support, and other interested individuals

Documentation is Key for Hierarchical Condition Categories (HCCs) for Clinicians 

• Target Audience: Physicians, Advanced Practice Providers, and other interested clinicians

South Piedmont AHEC Class Spotlight

FREE Webinar! The State of Adolescent Mental Health: Where we’ve been, where we are, and where we are going

While the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted critical trends in mental health among both adults and adolescents, bringing unprecedented attention to the accessibility of care, rates of these challenges among adolescents have actually been rising for over a decade. Through this lunch and learn, participants will explore trends in adolescent mental health over the past decade, what factors may be impacting the rise in concerns, and how they can help to create supportive environments and increase access to care. This free webinar is August 21st from 12 PM – 1 PM. To learn more and to register, please visit South Piedmont AHEC.

South Piedmont AHEC Practice Support – Helping you meet the challenges!

In this time of great transition in health care practices need to position themselves for new payment models, incentive programs, and other health care reforms while refocusing on patient-centered care. South Piedmont AHEC is currently able to provide these direct, individualized services at no cost.

Additional Resources: