Coronavirus Update #219
Medicaid Update from MDH, AHCA/NCAL Webinar Today,
Other COVID Updates and Reminders
Updates from the Maryland Department of Health

Important Medicaid Updates

Yesterday, the Maryland Department of Health released Medicaid updates on calendar year 2020 P4P scores, FY21 rate increase, and social security cost of living adjustment.
Reminder: Decommission of the DHS Office of Long Term Care Dedicated Email Account

On Friday, January 1, 2021, the DHS Office of Long Term Care (ltc.madocs@maryland.gov) dedicated email account will close. 
 
Any emails sent to the old dedicated email address will receive an auto reply email informing the sender that the email account is no longer in use, beginning January 1, 2021. This means all applications, redetermination applications, and verifications submitted to the decommissioned email account on and after January 1, 2021 will not be received by the Office of Long Term Care.
 
We encourage all facilities and other representatives of long term care participants to use the E&E System to submit applications, redeterminations, interim changes, and documentation. Online submission reduces processing time and ensures accurate data entry.
 
If you have never used the E&E system, you can gain access by following these steps. If you need assistance, please contact help.mdthink@maryland.gov.  

MD Think User Survey

There's still time to participate in the LTC E&E system Adoption and Usage Survey. The survey ends today- Wednesday, December 30, 2020. If you have not done so already, please go to https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2020EandEsurvey to provide your feedback.   
COVID-19 Vaccine Safety: A Fireside Chat with AHCA/NCAL, CMS, and CDC

Join the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and t​he American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) for a fireside chat on vaccine safety Wednesday, December 30 at 4:00 PM Eastern.

This discussion kicks-off a special series, as a part of the CMS National Nursing Home Stakeholder call series, aimed at addressing staff questions and concerns about the new COVID-19 vaccines. Each session will be moderated by CMS with speakers from CDC and representatives of frontline staff and providers. 

The initial call will address myths surrounding vaccine danger with the following panelists: 

  • ​Dr. Lee Fleisher, Chief Medical Officer and Director, Center for Clinical Standards and Quality (CMS) 

  • Dr. Amanda Cohn, Chief Medical Officer (Acting), Office of Vaccine Policy, Preparedness, and Global Health, Office of the Director (CDC) 

  • Dr. David Gifford, Chief Medical Officer and Director, Center for Health Policy Evaluation in LTC (ACHA/NCAL) 

Preparing for the call: 

  • Register in advance for this webinar here. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.​

  • Would you like to submit questions for the panel to discuss? Questions can be sent to COVID-19@cms.hhs.gov. Note that there will not be a Q&A session during the call. 

  • Access the long term care toolkit resource here​. 

​The target audience for this webinar includes nursing home frontline staff, and Chief Nursing Officers.
Other COVID-19 Updates

NHSN Launches New Optional COVID-19 Vaccine Modules: NHSN has launched the COVID-19 Vaccine Reporting Modules for residents and healthcare personnel in long term care facilities (LTCFs). Read More

NHSN Data Upload Issues Reported: NHSN has reported that there is an error occurring with data upload to the NHSN Long Term Care Facility modules. The CDC is urgently working to correct the NHSN application error that is impacting reporting COVID-19 data since December 26, 2020. Read More
Reminder: Monoclonal Antibody Treatments

The SPEED portal (or the Special Projects for Equitable and Efficient Distribution) will help allocate monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to priority populations, including nursing homes and assisted living facilities. The public portal distribution locations map is going through the final stages of approval before launching. AHCA/NCAL will provide updates when the site goes live.
 
Once live, the public portal distribution location map will provide information where providers can obtain the therapeutic mAbs. It will be accessible by clinicians, patients, and State leaders. The information displayed will include both bamlanivimab (Eli Lilly mAb) and the combination drugs casirivimab and imdevimab (commonly referred to as Regeneron) recipient locations. The portal will allow for search function to locate the mAbs based on address, zip code, and scrolling features. Contact information for the locations will be provided in the portal.

The mAb is being made available to nursing homes and assisted living principally through two ways:


  • NHIA has provided a PDF list for facilities to download and contact to set up home infusion at their center.


  • AMDA and ASCP have partnered to connect long term care facilities with participating pharmacies.

Steps for connecting long term care facilities with partnering pharmacies using mAb:

  1. Reach out to your current pharmacy to see if they are participating.
  2. If they are not participating, but are interested, they should email Chad Worz (cworz@ascp.com) and include the name of the individual pharmacy, address, contact person, email address, and request initial allocation based on the pharmacy size.
  3. If the pharmacy is already an Amerisource Bergan customer, they should include their customer ID, or if not a current Amerisource Bergan customer include the pharmacy license number for the location.
  4. HHS will work to expedite a relationship between Amerisource Bergan Specialty and the pharmacy so that they receive product timely.
AHCA/NCAL #GetVaccinated Toolkit

The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL), launched a campaign to encourage long term care residents and staff to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
  
To view all the materials please visit www.ahcancal.org/getvaccinated.
Did you miss HFAM's previous alerts?

Visit our website to view all previous HFAM alerts, as well as guidance
from our federal and state partners.
Thank you.

We cannot thank you enough for the dedication and diligence in doing all that you can for the residents in your communities. HFAM continues to monitor the COVID-19 pandemic with our state and national partners and will do all we can to support you during this time.