CCNC Update: February 2014
In the News
Project Lazarus Events and Developments
Caldwell County - Fox 46 Carolinas highlighted AccessCare’s Foothills Region (Caldwell) and their work to raise awareness of prescription drug addiction. As a part of this effort, prescription drug drop boxes have been installed at the Lenoir police station to collect ‘unused, unwanted, expired medication.’ Watch the segment here.
Rockingham County - The Rockingham County Sheriff's Office kicked off the Project Lazarus program by unveiling their new Medicine Drop Box campaign to help promote safe medication practices. Read more at WFMY online.
Wilkes County - NC Health News explored Project Lazarus' success in Project Lazarus' original pilot county. Read the article here.
NC Medicaid Coverage. The Medicaid Advisory Group will hold its next meeting on Wed., Feb. 26. For Medicaid-related news stories, please click here and here.
CHIPRA videos. Don't miss the "Engaging Adolescents" video series just produced by the CHIPRA team. View the videos here.
Events
AHRQ Webinar. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) will host a webinar on Tuesday, Feb. 25 from 3-4 p.m., introducing the Medical Care Special Issue, “Advancing the Field: Results from the AHRQ Multiple Chronic Conditions Research Network.” This Special Issue, to be released Feb. 24, presents research and commentaries based on AHRQ-funded grants to improve understanding about how to best care for people with MCC. In addition to two other presentations, Dr. Annette DuBard’s presentation, “Use of Medical Homes by Patients with Comorbid Physical and Severe Mental Illness” will be highlighted. Register for the webinar here.
Lunch & Learn Webinars. CCME Consulting is hosting a free lunch and learn webinar series. Upcoming webinars include, “North Carolina Health Information Exchange: Public Health Lessons Learned and Achieving Meaningful Use” on March 12 and “Patient Portal 101” on April 16. To register for the March 12 webinar, which features CCNC's Jayson Caracciolo as speaker, click here.
Cone Health Patient Education Summit. Don't miss this event on Friday, April 11 at Moses Cone Hospital in Greensboro. This interdisciplinary conference will identifying strategies for overcoming barriers and challenges in patient education and healthcare literacy. For details, go to the AHEC site.
AHEC CE Workshop. The Charlotte AHEC Center for Learning @ Development will host “Leadership Strategies for Reducing Avoidable Hospital Readmissions” on Wed., April 22 from 9-4 p.m. The event will provide hospital leadership and clinicians both technical and behavioral strategies to reduce avoidable readmissions that impact both the quality of care and reduce the financial impact of hospital readmissions. For more information about the event, click here. CE credits are available.
NC HIE
- Participation Update. To date, more than 600 total sites are participants of NC HIE throughout North Carolina including more than 600 ambulatory practices and 23 total hospitals.
- NC Neurological Society Annual Meeting. The NC Neurological Society will host its Annual Meeting on Feb. 21-23 in Pinehurst. Meeting topics include legislative activity that will impact the future of health care delivery and neurology in NC. NC HIE will exhibit at the event. For more information, click here.
- NC Chapter of ACP Annual Session. The NC Chapter of American College of Physicians will host its Annual Session on March 1 in Greensboro. Session topics include new developments in the health care climate in North Carolina. NC HIE will exhibit at the event. For more information, click here.
- NC HIE Connectivity Subsidy Program. The Division of Medical Assistance and CCNC are offering a subsidy program that will help cover the costs of connecting qualifying practices to NC HIE, enabling access to a wide array of NC HIE services and Meaningful Use reporting functionalities. Contact Kerry Kribbs for additional information.
Other News
CCNC Health Tips. The Sandhills Tribune (Carthage, NC) picked up a CCNC press release listing helpful health tips for 2014. See the story here.
Congratulations! Cleveland Piggott, an MD/MPH candidate at UNC School of Medicine, penned an article, “Multi-School, Student-Led, Grassroots Movement Covers New Ground,” for Primary Care Progress. The article details how NC medical students supported CCNC’s work through a petition they signed and presented at the last Medicaid Reform Advisory Group. Well done, Cleveland!
Partnership for Patients. Three CCNC networks recently participated in a national webinar for the Partnership for Patients (PfP) initiative. PfP is a national patient safety initiative supporting broad-based efforts to reduce harm caused to patients in hospitals and improve care transitions. Ronald E. Gaskins, MBA, MPA, Deputy Network Director of the Northwest Community Care gave a presentation and joined Sherri Branski, RN, MSN, CCM and Sara Massie, MPH of AccessCare and Kim Guillemette, MS, LSSBB, BSN, RN, CPHQ of AccessEast for a panel discussion. For more information, check out the news release.
PCMH/Blue Quality Accreditation. Congratulations to 16 practices participating in the AccessCare Multi-payer Demonstration on achieving both Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) and Blue Quality Physician Program (BQPP) accreditation!
- Ashe County: (Ashe Pediatrics, Ashe Medical Associates, Dr. Henry Clay, High Country Family Medicine, Mount Jefferson Family Medicine);
- Avery County: (Charles E. Baker Center for Primary Care, Clark Family, Elk River Medical Associates, Mountain Laurel Internal); and
- Watauga County: (Appalachian Regional Adult and Family Medicine, Blowing Rock Medical Clinic, Blue Ridge Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, Dr. Mark Murrey (Greenway Associates), Dr. Mark Harter, Dr. David Cline, Mountain Laurel Family Practice, Primedical, Watauga Internal Medicine).
Congratulations to the practices, AccessCare and the ASU Health Science Interns for this achievement!
Toxic Stress Initiative. The AccessCare Foothills Region team has been selected to participate in ‘Buffering Toxic Stress through Responsive Relationships,’ an initiative focused on understanding the causes and effects of toxic stress made possible by a grant from the North Carolina Collaborative for Children, Youth, & Families awarded to the North Carolina Infant & Young Child Mental Health Association. As part of the training, team members will learn at least four evidence-based early childhood mental health interventions and work to develop a plan for building local community collaboration with the goal of promoting evidence-based early childhood mental health interventions.