Your Weekly News & Updates
MSNJ Member Update - COVID-19
March 26, 2020
Support for Community Based Medical Practices and Clinics
Governor Murphy Calls Upon Physicians to Report PPE Inventory and Need
Executive Order 109 requires physician practices to report inventory of Personal Protective Equipment and other medical resources to the Office of Emergency Management.
Please click here to report this information online by 5:00pm tomorrow, Friday, March 27.
Childcare Available for Healthcare Workers
Executive Order 110 requires all childcare centers to close except for:
  • Centers registered with DCF to provide care to children of COVID-19 Essential Personnel
  • Home-based centers serving five or fewer children
  • Centers on federal property such as military bases
 
Executive Order 110 defines essential personnel as:
  • Health care workers, including staff working in health care facilities and in community-based services including home health and behavioral health
  • Law enforcement personnel, fire and emergency services personnel, and staff at correctional facilities
  • Individuals employed at emergency childcare centers operating after April 1, 2020
  • Staff working for entities that provide essential social services, including, but not limited to, group home and shelter staff
  • Certain critical workers, as defined by the Commissioner of DCF, at essential retail businesses, as defined in Executive Order No. 107 (2020) and subsequent Administrative Orders
  • Essential government employees who are unable to work from home, including child protection services workers, child welfare workers, foster care workers, unemployment compensation processing staff, and public health employees
 
Parents and guardians in need of childcare can contact the Child Care Resource and Referral Agenc y in their county.
Stimulus Relief Package
Late Wednesday night the Senate approved a massive $2 trillion stimulus and COVID-19 relief package.

Provisions of particular interest to physicians and their practices include the following:

  • Creates a new loan product within the Small Business Administration for loans of up to $10 million to help cover payroll and overhead costs, with expanded loan forgiveness criteria. Physician practices with not more than 500 employees may qualify.
  • $100 billion in direct financial support to hospitals, physician practices, and other health care providers under the Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund. This support is for costs of treating COVID-19 patients as well as to ease the financial impact on those who lose revenue due reductions in other services as a result of the pandemic. Exact eligibility criteria and application process is not yet defined pending implementation.
  • Suspension of the 2% Medicare sequester in May through December 2020.
  • Limitations on liability for volunteer health care professionals during COVID-19 emergency response.
  • A temporary waiver of the face-to-face visit requirement with home dialysis patients.
  • Authority for the Secretary of HHS to waive telehealth coverage requirements for new patients during a national emergency. Previous legislation provided flexibility only for established patients seen within the past three years.
  • Secretary will also allow for enhanced use of telehealth under Medicare for federally qualified health centers.

Also of interest, the “health extenders” package that was set to expire on May 22 has now been extended to November 30.

House passage is expected on Friday and the President is expected to sign the bill into law.

A description of the small business provisions included in the stimulus can be found here .
Alternative Treatment Centers (ATC) - COVID-19 Waiver
The Department of Health issued a Certificate of Waiver for Medicinal Marijuana by granting relief from certain provisions (i.e., dispensing and cultivation of medicinal marijuana from Department approved only locations) seen here in response to the public health emergency declared in New Jersey. 
Assistance Requested by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is requesting assistance from New Jersey physicians. Please see his message:

“In the event that the novel coronavirus crisis worsens, we need the help of additional qualified health professionals and related professionals to supplement our hospital capacity on a temporary basis to treat seriously ill coronavirus patients including those that may need to be intubated." Read more to find out how to help.
New COVID-19 Resources and Updates
Webinar Recordings
MSNJ pushed out two really interesting webinar’s that occurred yesterday. For anyone who missed them, please find the recordings below.
Payer Updates

UnitedHealthcare FAQ: Which types of care providers do the policy changes apply to? As of March 19, 2020, there is no change to the type of care provider who may submit claims for broad telehealth services. UnitedHealthcare generally follows CMS’ policies on the types of care providers eligible to deliver telehealth services, although individual states may define eligible care providers differently. These include:
  • Physician
  • Nurse practitioner
  • Physician assistant
  • Nurse-midwife
  • Clinical nurse specialist
  • Registered dietitian or nutrition professional
  • Clinical psychologist
  • Clinical social worker
  • Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists 
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