Medicaid Director discusses zone concept. During Governor Mike DeWine's press conference today, State Medicaid Director Maureen Corcoran explained the state's regional zone concept, whereby hospitals are paired with congregate care settings to assist them in dealing with COVID-19. She said that in many cases, these relationships were forged earlier in the pandemic, and the state is now building on them. Director Corcoran also pointed to clinical protocols and training as embodied in the state's pre-surge planning toolkit and touched on Health Care Isolation Centers. In concluding remarks about expanding testing, Director Corcoran pointed out that when testing reveals a large number of cases at a facility, many of them are asymptomatic, and the results do not mean that the quality of care was poor. Director of Health Dr. Amy Acton confirmed that COVID-19 is very infectious and can get into facilities despite the best of practices.
House committee revises liability bill. The House Civil Justice Committee today accepted a substitute version of House Bill (HB) 606, sponsored by Representative Diane Grendell (R-Chesterland). The substitute replaces the original content of the bill with provisions establishing liability protection for health care providers and for general business. Like a similar bill in the Senate, Senate Bill 308, the health care section of HB 606 is derived from language OHCA originally suggested to protect long-term services and supports providers.
Infection control surveys recording. Today's SNF member call reached capacity of 300 lines, so we posted a recording of the call, which featured Tammy Cassidy explaining the new infection control surveys that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Department of Health have begun to conduct. Click here for materials that Ms. Cassidy discussed during the call. So far, we have not heard any horror stories about infection control surveys in Ohio, although problems have surfaced in other states. Even when relatively benign, the surveys detract from patient care during the pandemic.
New OSHA educational materials. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) released a new video and poster that show employers and workers how properly to wear and to remove an N95 respirator. The video and poster are also available in Spanish.
Clarification of Buckeye PA relaxations. OHCA previously reported in SNF News Bites that Buckeye Health Plan (Buckeye) relaxed prior authorization (PA) requirements, in accordance with the Department of Medicaid directive for managed care plans, for their various lines of services. Recently, Buckeye clarified that this only applies to the managed Medicaid, Mycare Medicaid, and Mycare Medicare lines of service. For skilled nursing facility admissions, Buckeye allows the notification and Level of Care request to be submitted up to 72 hours afterward. This allows transfers to occur without waiting for Level of Care review. For more information regarding this notice, please refer to the Buckeye Provider Coronavirus Information page under Prior Authorization Modifications.
ODM EVV updates. In December 2019, the Department of Medicaid (ODM) required all providers using an alternate electronic visit verification (EVV) system for data collection to complete a certification process by June 30, 2020. The process includes both a demonstration of the alternate to ODM and Sandata's validation of data transmission from the alternate system to the aggregator. As June 30 approaches, ODM is reaching out this week by letter to providers who have initiated but not completed both parts of the certification process.
Additionally, ODM and Sandata have hosted monthly webinars on various topics over the past year with question-and-answer sessions at the end. Now, the EVV team will devote two upcoming webinars entirely to answering questions. If questions remain at the end of the webinar time, they will be directed to the EVV inbox at EVV@medicaid.ohio.gov. Please click on the following links to register for these webinars.
ODM EVV Open Q&A Session, Friday, May 15, 2020, 3:00-4:00 p.m.
ODM EVV Open Q&A Session, Friday, May 29, 2020, 10:00-11:00 a.m.