To support continued access to dental care for Medicaid and NC Health Choice beneficiaries in North Carolina at a time when providers are facing challenges posed by the COVID-19 public health emergency, NC Medicaid will be making financial assistance payments to dental providers who serve meaningful numbers of Medicaid and NC Health Choice beneficiaries. Using federal Coronavirus Relief Funds (CRF), these payments are intended to provide economic support for dental providers who experienced revenue losses from March 1 through Dec. 30, 2020, as a result of in-person visit restrictions necessitated by the COVID-19 public health emergency.
This bulletin outlines the criteria dental providers must meet and actions some of those providers must take to be eligible to receive the financial assistance payments. The bulletin also explains the method by which NC Medicaid will determine each eligible provider’s payment.
Eligibility and Payment Amount
NC Medicaid will make COVID-19 financial assistance payments to enrolled non-FQHC, non-RHC, non-LHD dental billing providers who received payments of $5,000 or more for Medicaid and NC Health Choice claims from March 1, 2019 through Feb. 29, 2020. Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), Rural Health Center (RHC) and Local Health Department (LHD) dental providers who have already received temporary Medicaid rate increases as part of NC Medicaid’s COVID-19 response are not eligible for these CRF payments.
NC Medicaid will pay each eligible dental billing provider a CRF payment of 3.74% of the provider’s total paid claims from Medicaid and NC Health Choice for that same time period, March 1, 2019 through Feb. 29, 2020.
Payment Requirements (Specific to Providers Receiving $50,000 or More)
Per US Treasury Department requirements, providers projected to receive a payment of $50,000 or more in CRF dollars must register with the System for Award Management (SAM) at SAM.gov (https://sam.gov/SAM/) and provide their DUNS (Data Universal Numbering System) number to NC Medicaid prior to receiving payment. The DUNS number is a nine-digit number issued by Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) and assigned to your business location in the D&B database used by the federal government to track how federal money is allocated.
NC Medicaid will notify providers projected to fit into this category and request that they provide their DUNS number and confirmation of registration with SAM by Jan. 30, 2021. Providers should email their DUNS numbers and confirmation of registration with SAM to Medicaid.ProviderReimbursement@dhhs.nc.gov
NC Medicaid anticipates that CRF payments will be made to eligible providers in February 2021.
Contact
NC Medicaid Finance at Medicaid.ProviderReimbursement@dhhs.nc.gov