Medicaid Bulletin

NC Medicaid has updated its ICD-10 diagnosis code list. Diagnosis code K35.891 (other acute appendicitis without perforation, with gangrene) has been added as an acceptable ICD-10 diagnosis code effective Oct. 1, 2018.

A new or amended clinical coverage policy regarding facility-based crisis management for children and adolescents is available on NC Medicaid’s website. 

Unpaid medical bills and current medical expenses count toward NC Medicaid applicants’ deductibles. Private Duty Nursing (PDN) services qualify as a medical expense and may be used toward meeting this deductible.

As NC Medicaid's managed care launch date approaches, Advanced Medical Home (AMH) providers who believe they are not ready to meet program requirements to perform at the tier level to which they attested may now submit a request to change their AMH Tier status from Tier 3 to Tier 2. The AMH Tier 3 providers may not downgrade lower than AMH Tier 2.

Per Clinical Coverage Policy 5A-3, Nursing Equipment and Supplies on the NC Medicaid website, HCPCS code A4252 (blood ketone test or reagent strip, each) has a quantity limitation of 100 test strips per month. Considering the national description of A4252 refers to each test strip, DME providers are reminded to submit their claims with the number of test strips supplied to the beneficiary, not the number of boxes of test strips.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has expanded the regions awarded to Carolina Complete Health, Inc. (CCH) to serve as a health plan under the state’s transition to Medicaid Managed Care. In addition to serving regions 3 and 5 in the state, the provider-led health plan will also serve region 4.

The NC Medicaid EHR Incentive Payment System (NC-MIPS) is only accepting Program Year 2019 Stage 3 Meaningful Use (MU) attestations. All eligible professionals (EPs) attesting in Program Year 2019 will be required to attest to Stage 3 MU and use a 2015 Edition of certified EHR technology (CEHRT).

On Oct. 1, 2019, an amended version of Clinical Coverage Policy 5A-3, Nursing Equipment and Supplies, was posted to the North Carolina Medicaid website. In addition to correcting numbering, grammatical and style errors, several changes have been made.

Effective with date of service July 22, 2019, the North Carolina Medicaid and NC Health Choice programs cover trastuzumab-anns for injection, for intravenous use  (Kanjinti™) for use in the Physician Administered Drug Program (PADP) when billed with Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) code J9999 - not otherwise classified, antineoplastic drugs.

Providers were notified in the August Medicaid bulletin that as of May 1, 2019, the sterilization consent form was updated with an expiration date of April 30, 2022. The sterilization consent form found on the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) website has been updated. Providers should now be using this version when submitting the sterilization consent form to the NC Medicaid fiscal agent.