Testing Reimbursement for Self-Insured Providers. This morning, the Health Department (ODH) circulated a notice via the Enhanced Information Dissemination and Collection system (EIDC) announcing that they and the Department of Aging opened a portal for self-insured providers to submit documentation for state reimbursement of COVID-19 testing costs. The state, most recently Director of Aging Ursel McElroy, promised for months that they would cover these costs for self-insured providers, but there was no mechanism for reimbursement. Now there is. Please see these instructions for the portal.

As members used the portal today, a number of issues came up:

• The portal appears to assume that the laboratory invoices the facility directly, but that is not the case with a self-insurance program. The laboratory bills the self-insured third-party administrator (TPA), which requests funding to pay the claims from the provider.
• What is meant by the "invoice"? Is this the claim that the lab submits to the TPA, or is it the request for payment that the TPA submits to the provider?
• Likewise, what is proof of payment? That the TPA paid the claim or that the provider paid the TPA?
• If the facility must submit the laboratory claims, how can this be done in a consolidated manner instead of submitting each claim separately?
• If the provider must obtain and submit all the individual claims and proof that the TPA paid each of them, the February 1, 2021, deadline is unrealistic.
• The portal indicates that future claims a laboratory submits to the TPA should be returned, and the lab should bill the state. What if the claim relates to testing done in the past?
• There is conflicting language between the EIDC notice and the portal attestation page about whether reimbursement is available for state-supported or state-required testing.
  
• What is an OAKS (Ohio Administrative Knowledge System) supplier number, and does a provider need to have one before submitting a reimbursement request?
  
• The EIDC communication and the portal refer to "nursing homes." Does this mean assisted living communities that are self-insured cannot use the portal to apply for reimbursement for state-supported testing?
  

OHCA is in communication with Director McElroy and requested additional guidance. She asked that we communicate to members her intent to get reimbursement out to them and to do it as quickly as possible, given that providers have been waiting for many months. She will share additional guidance, so you may wish to wait to submit any more requests through the portal until the guidance is available. Director McElroy confirmed that reimbursement is available only for state-supported tests, not for tests that providers procured on their own from other labs.

Coronavirus Relief Fund Clarification. The state made payments to a variety of health care providers this past summer from the Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF). The CRF was funded by the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which originally required states to use the money for costs incurred by December 30, 2020. Late last year, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA), extended the deadline to December 31, 2021. In response, the Office of Budget and Management (OBM) notified providers who received payments from the CRF that the deadline for spending the money was extended to December 31, 2021, consistent with the CAA. OBM's CRF guidance, however, still showed the old deadline. OBM updated their guidance (scroll down to Attachments -> Final Provider Guidance - 1.19.21) earlier this week to recognize the new December 31, 2021, deadline, albeit somewhat awkwardly.

Reminder: OHCA TNA Survey. We ask SNF members to complete our Survey Monkey about their employment of temporary nurse aides (TNAs) by Monday, January 25, so we can use the data to advocate for a pathway by which TNAs can gain permanent status. Given the scheduled April 20, 2021, expiration of the Public Health Emergency that allows use of TNAs in SNFs, there is urgency to our advocacy work. If you would like to submit data for a number of SNFs, please feel free to send a spreadsheet with the requested data to Pete Van Runkle.

Vaccine Provider Information. ODH released its latest Ohio Vaccine Preparedness Office Weekly Update. The department also scheduled another training webinar on their ImpactSIIS system for vaccine providers. Anyone, including those who are considering becoming a vaccine provider, can sit in. Here is the announcement:

COVID-19 vaccination providers must report vaccination information within 24 hours of administration to the Ohio Department of Health’s immunization registry, ImpactSIIS, which links to common electronic health record systems. Providers who administer other types of vaccine are already used to reporting vaccination data to ImpactSIIS.

With an ImpactSIIS account, providers also can access the ODH Vaccine Ordering Management System (VOMS) module to monitor COVID-19 vaccine and ancillary kit quantities ordered for them.

You are invited to participate in a webinar Tuesday afternoon (Tuesday, Jan. 26) from 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. to learn more about ImpactSIIS from Brian Napier, ODH Immunization Program ImpactSIIS Manager. The webinar will be hosted on the WebEx videoconferencing platform, and below is information about how to participate from your PC or by phone. If you do not have WebEx installed on your PC, you will be prompted to connect to the videoconference call using a temporary browser application.

If you have any questions or issues, please call the ODH Provider Call Center between 8:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, at 1-844-9ODHVAX (1-844-963-4829) or email COVIDVACCINE@odh.ohio.gov.

OHCA understands that being a vaccine provider may not be a good fit for members, especially given the different populations (and staff) served by our different member groups. Vaccine provider status, however, is the only game in town at this time. We will submit a proposal to the state in the coming days, as they requested, on how to vaccinate long-term services and supports populations and staff members going forward. This proposal is likely to place heavy emphasis on the long-term care pharmacies as vaccine distributors and facility/agency staff as immunizers. If you have thoughts on how this should be done, please let us know.