TCCN Sponsors the Children’s Annual Professional Staff Meeting | |
The Children’s Care Network is sponsoring the 2023 Children’s Annual Professional Staff Meeting on Wednesday, August 23 at 6:00 pm at the Children’s Support Center.
This meeting replaces the TCCN Fall Clinical Quality Forum, so your attendance at the event will count towards your 2023 meeting attendance requirement.
We have coordinated to make tables available for subspecialty physicians to connect with pediatricians and other physician attendees.
This networking opportunity has been requested by many of you and we strongly encourage pediatricians in particular to attend!
Please note that this meeting will not be recorded. Come and enjoy free food, beer and wine!
If you have not sent your RSVP and are planning to attend, please respond to the calendar invite that you should have received from Physician Communications or complete this online registration.
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Children’s to Decommission Physician Portal June 30: Explore Frequently Used Links | |
Children’s is decommissioning the Physician Portal on Friday, June 30, in response to feedback captured via the Physician Wellness Pebble in My Shoe Program.
As we prepare for the decommissioning, we wanted to share links to some of the most frequently visited areas of the portal, including UptoDate, Patient Education/Teaching Sheets, CME information, and Project ECHO.
Please review this tip sheet for more information.
If you have questions, please email physician.communications@choa.org.
TCCN is currently evaluating where to place these frequently visited portal sites on our own intranet. We will send an update when the resources are available on the TCCN site.
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Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) | |
The PWFA law went into effect on June 27, 2023. The law applies to any business with 15 workers (bodies- not FTE).
Included below are resources provided from Vxtra that give examples of reasonable accommodations.
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Law Alert: Georgia Expands Voting Leave | |
Vxtra has provided the following update for our members:
Starting July 1, 2023, Georgia’s voting leave law—which applies to employers of all sizes—will be expanded to allow employees to take time off to vote on the day of an election or on any in-person early voting day. Employers will also need to provide voting leave regardless of an employee’s work schedule. (Previously, employers only had to provide leave if an employee didn’t have two hours to vote before or after work while the polls were open.)
Time off to vote can be limited to two hours and be unpaid, though exempt employees can’t have their pay reduced for the absence. Voting leave must be made available for any municipal, county, state, or federal election, including primaries.
Action Item: Update your voting leave policy and ensure that managers are made aware of the change and are providing appropriate time off to vote.
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TCCN Antibiotic Stewardship Webinar: Why It's Important For Your Practice and Patients | |
Join us on August 16 at 12:30 pm as we continue our 3-part virtual series 'Antibiotic Stewardship: Why it's Important for Your Practice and Patients'.
This lunchtime series presents the new Georgia Pediatric Antibiotic Stewardship website, gpas-online.org, designed to help you in your busy practices with guidelines and a new antibiogram visualization tool.
Webinar #2: August 16, 12:30-1:30
Please be sure to register in advance to receive the meeting link. Same-day registrations may experience issues with logging on.
If you missed it, click here to watch
Webinar #1: How to Access and Use the Website
Save the dates for upcoming webinars:
Webinar #3: November 1: Antibiotic Dosing
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Georgia to reinstate eligibility verifications | |
The state of Georgia has begun reinstating eligibility verifications for Medicaid and PeachCare for Kids members, which were paused during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Georgia Department of Human Services and Georgia Department of Community Health are asking Medicaid and PeachCare for Kids members to confirm their contact information as soon as possible before Medicaid redeterminations which were re-started on April 1. Practices can assist by notifying your patients and members that it is very important for all members to update their contact information. Members may update their contact information online, by phone, or in-person at a local DFCS office.
Federal law requires all states, including Georgia, to check who is still eligible to receive Medicaid coverage within 14 months.
This will be the first time many of Georgia’s 2.7 million Medicaid and PeachCare for Kids members will be required to go through redetermination, which was a routine process prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It is operationally critical for all practices to ensure they are conducting benefit verification during this time.
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Georgia Medicaid RFP Process | |
The state of Georgia has initiated a Request for Proposal process to re-contract with CMOs for Medicaid and PeachCare for Kids.
TCCN is aware that many practices are receiving requests to sign Letters-of-Intent (LOIs) from insurers interested in responding to the state’s RFP.
These entities include incumbents (Peach State, Amerigroup, and CareSource) as well as multiple additional plans (Aetna Better Health, UnitedHealthcare, Molina, etc.)
Please be aware that TCCN is conducting negotiations on behalf of our delegated providers with these payer entities with the intent of completing negotiations with plans that are awarded a contract with the state.
The state has provided a timeline anticipating that awards will be announced in the summer of 2023 with start dates after July 1, 2024.
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Amerigroup Notification Error Update | |
On May 23, 2023, Children’s was notified that Amerigroup members received notices advising them Scottish Rite Hospital is out-of-network as of May 15, 2023. Amerigroup is the Medicaid CMO that covers all kids in foster care in Georgia as well as many other children across the state.
Amerigroup confirmed that the member notifications were sent in error due to a system issue that has impacted many providers. There should not be any network disruption for Amerigroup policy holders.
Contact managedcare@choa.org if you or your patients experience any authorization issues related to the inaccurate notification.
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Amerigroup Virtual Training Sessions
Amerigroup is offering webinar training sessions on two topics:
These webinars are suitable for providers, billers, coders, and office staff.
Each topic has multiple sessions available; please read the linked PDFs for dates, times, and details.
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For questions regarding TCCN Value Added Services, please reach out to
Barbara Douglas, TCCN Associate Director of Programs at Barbara.douglas@tccn-choa.org.
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Welch Allyn Spot Vision Screener Program | |
TCCN and McKesson are pleased to announce a special buying program for the Welch Allyn SPOT Vision Screener. This program is only available to TCCN Members through McKesson. Please see the brochure here for additional information.
EXCLUSIVE OFFER FOR THE CHILDREN’S CARE NETWORK
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Offer valid April 1st, 2023 - September 30th, 2023
- $500 Rebate + 5-Year Warranty (Valued at $1,736)
- $2,236 in Total Savings!!!
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Eligible devices for trade in include: Welch Allyn SureSight Vision Screener, Welch Allyn Spot Vision Screener (2.0 model), PediaVision, GoCheck Kids, Plusoptix, MTI, Topcon, Retinomax, Titmus V Series, Stereo Optical Vision Screeners, Canon, Reichert, Marco and/or iScreen brands
Please contact your McKesson Rep for any questions.
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New Medical Supplies Program - McKesson | |
The TCCN Value Added Services Team is excited to announce a new Medical Supplies Purchasing Program with McKesson! TCCN and McKesson have entered into a multi-faceted program for all TCCN Community practices!
Immediate Available Benefits:
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2 – 5% Estimated savings with special pricing on top 100 items
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Free Next Day Shipping – waived shipping minimums and fuel surcharge
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.5% prompt pay 15 days, net 30-day payment terms
Click here for more program details
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Children's MedBytes Newsletter- June 30, 2023 | |
Check out the latest updates here!
In this issue:
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Clinical updates: Virometer Update, Welcoming Melinda Rathkopf, MD, CAP COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic to Close
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Around Children’s: U.S. News & World Report Rankings, Decommissioning Physician Portal, Supply Drive for Local Students, Brouilette wins Jack C. Hughston Physician of the Year Award
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Upcoming events: Annual Professional Staff Meeting, Professional Staff Town Hall, Project ECHO, Physician Outreach Webinar, REACH Institute Training
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Research spotlight: Children’s Shows Safety and Efficacy of New Treatment Option for Young Children with Severe Peanut Allergy
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Children's Behavioral and Mental Health Project ECHO- Coordination Between Medical and Education Systems Cohort | |
As pediatricians increasingly play a critical role in “whole-child” care, they consistently identify a need to learn more about how to care for children with Behavioral and Mental Health (BMH) needs. Specifically, learning how to screen, when and how to treat, understanding the referral options and when it is appropriate to refer for specialty care. Providing BMH education to pediatricians stimulates confidence in their abilities to deliver care while allowing them to become more perceptive and resourceful in the process. By educating just one pediatrician, we can positively impact the lives of hundreds of kids needing BMH care.
Utilizing the Project ECHO platform, Children's has been providing Behavioral and Mental Health education in multiple cohorts since March 2021. This cohort will meet every other Wednesday at lunchtime starting July 19th for six sessions and will cover multiple facets of caring for patients who would benefit from coordination between medical and education systems. Upon the conclusion of this cohort, we will offer additional cohorts through 2025 covering new behavioral and mental health topics.
Project ECHO uses the online platform, Zoom, and participation in Project ECHO is free of charge. Participants will have the opportunity to earn CME and MOC Part II credits for their participation.
Registration is open to primary care providers in the state of Georgia only. Active participation is required and participants are expected to present at minimum one case during the series.
Event Details:
Coordination Between Medical and Education Systems Cohort sessions will take place every other Wednesday from 12:00pm – 1:00pm via Zoom. This series will be facilitated by Laura Dilly, PhD, ABPP.
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July 19th: Language, Laws, and Customs of Schools: Visiting a Foreign Country - Laura Dilly, PhD, ABPP
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August 2nd: Multi-tiered System of Supports: What Pediatricians Need to Know - Jody Drum, MTSS Regional Coach, Georgia Department of Education
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August 16th: 504 Plans and IEPs: Who Needs What and How to Get It - Latasha Woods, PhD, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Psychologist
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August 30th: Psychological Evaluations, Eligibilities, and IEP Plans - Tom Owen, Director of Psychological Services, Gwinnett County Public Schools
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September 13th: Discipline and Manifestation Determination Reviews - Gretchen Walton, JD, Compliance, Legal & Legislative Officer, Cobb County School, and Jessica Coleman, Director of Special Education Compliance
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September 27th: Getting Kids What They Need: District Level Supports, Tips, and Tricks - Laura Dilly, PhD, ABPP
This series will be limited to 25 participants due to the time constraints of case presentations. There will be an active waitlist so please add your name if the course is full and you will be contacted if you are able to join.
To register for this series, click here.
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Required CME for Physicians - Sexual Misconduct | |
HB458 was passed into Law in 2021 and was effective January 1, 2022 and requires that each physician complete a 2 hour course in “professional boundaries and sexual misconduct in medical practice” before renewing their GA medical license (this is a one-time requirement).
TCCN’s Malpractice Carrier, Curi, has two 1 hour CME courses on “Sexual Misconduct” that fulfills the new GA license requirement for HB458. Please see instructions below on how to access.
Instructions:
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Login in to your Curi account at www.curi.com
- Click on your initials at the far top right of your screen. (Your initials will appear with a yellow circle around them)
- Select CME webinars
- There you will find two new CME activities- Patient Harassment and Sexual Harassment
If you are not part of TCCN’s Malpractice Program with Curi, please reach out to your malpractice carrier as they may have a class available as well.
We encourage you to check out Curi’s Learning Center for other CME offerings.
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In Case You Missed It (please use the links below to review)
TCCN Requirements
TCCN Resources
Community Updates
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We are here for you. Please reach out to your TCCN Provider Relations Representative contact@tccn-choa.org with any questions. | | |
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The Children's Care Network
Phone: 404-785-0101 l Visit us at www.tccn-choa.org
Please add contact@tccn-choa.org to your list of trusted senders
"Great pediatric doctors and leading children's hospitals improving healthcare and the health of our children, because our children deserve it!"
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