A North Carolina Medicaid beneficiary may be later identified as exempt or excluded from NC Medicaid Managed Care. This will result in a beneficiary's disenrollment from NC Medicaid Managed Care and return to NC Medicaid Direct.
Most NC Medicaid Managed Care prior authorizations (PAs) transfer to NC Medicaid Direct for impacted beneficiaries. However, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) has identified system and process differences that exist between NC Medicaid Direct and the health plans that resulted in PAs with manually priced Durable Medical Equipment (DME) and Orthotic and Prosthetic (O&P) procedure codes transferring to NCTracks with insufficient information for use during claim adjudication.
Therefore:
- Due to the system differences, health plans are asked not to return PAs with manually priced DME and O&P procedure codes to NCTracks.
- PAs with manually priced procedure codes sent to NC Medicaid Direct by health plans will be rejected.
Note: This change applies only to manually priced procedure codes. DME and O&P codes that are not manually priced will continue to transfer back to NCTracks when a beneficiary returns to NC Medicaid Direct.
Guidance to Providers
Effective April 1, 2023, for manually priced procedure codes listed on the DME and O&P fee schedules on the NC Medicaid Fee Schedule and Covered Code site, DME and O&P providers must submit a new PA request to NCTracks when a beneficiary transitions back to NC Medicaid Direct from NC Medicaid Managed Care. Specifically:
- A new PA for these manually priced procedure codes is required for all beneficiaries returning to NC Medicaid Direct regardless of previous NC Medicaid Managed Care PA status.
- PAs for the unlisted nationally recognized Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) codes B9998, E0986, E1012, E1399 and K0108, are subject to this new PA process.
Retroactive Prior Authorization Request
For beneficiaries who return to NC Medicaid Direct on or after April 1, 2023, retroactive requests must be submitted within 90 days of the posted date on the health plan letter notifying the provider of claim recoupment due to retroactive enrollment return to NC Medicaid Direct. The "effective date" of the retroactive PA is the latter of:
- The date coverage begins under NC Medicaid Direct,
- Or the date the coverage was issued.
Providers should check NCTracks for appropriate prior authorizations and submit claims to NCTracks. If the dates of service are outside the 90-day window, or the provider experiences other difficulties submitting a retro prior authorization request or affiliated claims to NCTracks, the provider should contact the NC Medicaid Managed Care Provider Ombudsman at 866-304-7062 or Medicaid.ProviderOmbudsman@dhhs.nc.gov to generate a ticket for claim reprocessing.
The provider should include:
- Subject: Retro Disenrollment Claims Issue
- Provider Name and National Provider Identifier (NPI):
- Previous Health Plan Name:
- MID:
- Service Provided (include procedure codes):
- Dates of Service or Date of Dispensing
Documentation Requirement
For all retroactive PA requests, the health plan PA history must be documented with a copy of the health plan PA submitted, if one was issued.
Reminder
Providers should always check the beneficiary’s current NC Medicaid eligibility and NC Medicaid Managed Care enrollment status and available PAs in NCTracks prior to submitting a PA or providing services.
Resources
- For questions regarding NCTracks functionality, contact the NCTracks Call Center at 800-688-6696.
- For questions about PAs currently authorized by a beneficiary’s health plan, contact the applicable health plan.
- Contact information is available in the Quick Reference Guide for Standard Plans or the Quick Reference Guide for Tailored Plans.
- Other questions may be directed to the NC Medicaid Contact Center 888-245-0179 or Medicaid.DMErequest@dhhs.nc.gov.