Providers

EOCCO October Provider Newsletter

EOCCO Clinics & Staff,

Welcome to the October issue of the EOCCO Monthly Newsletter. Below is a preview of the articles you will find in this month’s issue:

Resources for Reducing ED Utilization
Foster Parent Incentive Program
2022 Community Benefit Initiative Reinvestment (CBIR) Applications
Advocating for Your Loved One During a Crisis: A Guide for Parents and Caregivers While at the Hospital Emergency Department
Primary Care Provider Vaccine Toolkit
Upcoming Events and Trainings
Umatilla County Mental Health Services Transition
Important! ICD-10 Code M54.5 Removed
New Education Page on eocco.com

Please let us know if you have any questions, concerns or recommendations. We would love to hear from you!

Please contact: Kelly Watanabe at kelly.watanabe@eocco.com

Thank you,
Your EOCCO Team

Resources for Reducing ED Utilization

EOCCO has created a series of resources intended to reduce unnecessary Emergency Department utilization among our members. These documents are meant to educate EOCCO patients on when it is best to use emergency care vs. primary care vs. other care settings. We have also created 12 different region-specific versions of this resource to inform patients of EOCCO-contracted providers in their area that they can visit in place of the Emergency Department.

You can find digital versions of these documents on our website here under the “Reducing Emergency Department Utilization” heading. Please contact EOCCOmetrics@modahealth.com if you would like printed copies to distribute to the EOCCO community.

Foster Parent Incentive Program

Foster parents can receive a $75 Amazon.com gift card* for completing all necessary DHS health assessments for a child in foster care. Required assessments include a physical exam for children less than 12 months old, a physical and dental exam for children who are 1-3 years old, and a physical, dental, and mental health assessment for children 4-17 years of age. All necessary assessments must be completed withing 60 days after placement. Let EOCCO know when the child has completed their visit(s) by emailing EOCCOmetric@modahealth.com or call us at 888-788-9821.

For more information on the Foster Parent Incentive Program visit eocco.com.

2022 Community Benefit Initiative Reinvestment (CBIR) Applications

EOCCO is pleased to release the 2022 Community Benefit Initiative Reinvestments Applications. Included in the 2022 application package are four funding opportunities:

Transformation Application: This includes “Opt-In” projects aimed at specific incentive measures and opportunities for continuing a 2020 or 2021 project. For the 2022 application cycle, Opt-in projects are focused on the following areas: health information technology; language access services; well-child visits; and immunizations.
New Ideas Application: This application allows applicants to propose novel ideas focused on the topic areas outlined in the application form, including incentive measures, new collaborations, telehealth and broadband capacity, behavioral health integration, workforce strategies, assessing and addressing health disparities, and assessing and addressing health-related social needs.
Public Health Department Application: This application allows applicants to propose projects lead by public health departments to improve the health and wellbeing of EOCCO members and their communities.

EOCCO LCAC RFAs will be released in December 2021.

Community Benefit Initiative Reinvestment Technical Assistance Resource

The CBIR Technical Assistance Team will be holding two information sessions for potential applicants to review these funding opportunities in greater detail and answer questions. Please note that being at a computer is best to view slides. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Two sessions will be held on Friday, October 29, 2021 and Friday, November 5, 2021 from 12pm – 1pm PTD. Click the preferred date above to register.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to the CBIR TA team through the EOCCO shared inbox CBIR@ohsu.edu

Advocating for Your Loved One During a Crisis: A Guide for Parents and Caregivers While at the Hospital Emergency Department

This guide is accessible on the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) website and developed by families with lived experience to support parents and caregivers while at the hospital emergency department. Advocating for your loved one during a crisis is an excellent tool to provide parents and caregivers to understand their patient rights, emergency department language, and processes. The guide also includes next steps in the behavioral healthcare system for families. The materials are ready for print or to share via hyperlink. For more information about distributing printed materials or how to use this guide with parents and caregivers, please contact jserrano@gobhi.org

Primary Care Provider Vaccine Toolkit

OHA and OHSU/CPCRI (Center for Primary Care Research and Innovation) have entered a joint partnership to create and distribute two toolkits aimed at helping providers implement COVID-19 vaccinations at both clinical & community-based vaccine sites.

The toolkits include questions to ask patients, required documents, and best practices. You can find both toolkits as well as a wealth of other resources at this website: https://bridgetoinnovation.org/resource-hub/toolkits/.

Upcoming Events & Trainings

Virtual Learning Sessions: Pediatric COVID Vaccines for Clinics

Clinical staff are invited to attend a learning session focused on pediatric COVID immunizations. As a participant, you will hear from subject matter experts and from peers on key topics such as pediatric COVID vaccine updates, how to build vaccine confidence in parents, and using equity in all planning and delivery of vaccine. Time will be reserved to answer questions from clinical staff.

Sessions will be held from 12-1pm on the following Thursdays. Click the date below to register:

Umatilla County Mental Health Services Transition

In spring of 2021, Umatilla County made the decision to conduct a request for proposal (RFP) for a single provider to offer mental health and substance use disorder treatment services. The county ultimately selected Community Counseling Solutions (CCS) as the new entity to provide both MH and SUD services. This change affects EOCCO members in Umatilla County. 30 days prior to the effective date of 12/1/2021, all members in the county will receive a letter notifying them of the change in providers, regardless of whether they are currently accessing MH services. SUD services were transferred from the county to CCS on Sept. 1, 2021 and members received that notification from EOCCO within the 30 day timeline.

Sept. 1 - Substance Use Disorder treatment services in Umatilla County transferred from Umatilla County A&D (the county) to Community Counseling Solutions.
Dec. 1 - Community Mental Health Program services in Umatilla County will transfer from Lifeways to Community Counseling Solutions.

If you or your patients have any questions, please contact EOCCO Customer Service toll-free at 888-788-9821. (TTY users, please dial 711.) For CCS information, call 541-676-9161.

Important! ICD-10 Code M54.5 Removed

Effective 10/1/2021, ICD-10 code M54.5 (low back pain) has been deleted and can no longer be used for billing by providers. This information was released by CMS as part of their annual revisions and code changes. We understand that this is a commonly billed code and that there are many prior authorizations in place with this code. EOCCO will honor existing authorizations. However, to avoid denials, providers must update diagnosis codes and ensure correct billing on claims being submitted. New authorizations with M54.5 will be denied and you will be asked to resubmit with a valid diagnosis code. If EOCCO receives claims with diagnosis code M54.5 they will be denied for ‘invalid diagnosis’ and the claim must be resubmitted with a valid diagnosis code.

Questions? Contact EOCCOProviderInquiry@modahealth.com

New Education Page on eocco.com

EOCCO has a brand-new education page for providers and clinic staff. The following resources are consolidated onto one page:

Information for new providers and clinic staff
Annual compliance
Incentive measures
Language ID cards
OHA trainings and general resources
Upcoming events and trainings

Please direct your staff to this new page and feel free to reach out to kelly.watanabe@eocco.com for any questions