Medicaid Bulletin

Effective with date of service Aug. 22, 2019, the North Carolina Medicaid and NC Health Choice programs cover lefamulin injection, for intravenous use (Xenleta) for use in the Physician Administered Drug Program when billed with HCPCS code J3490 - Unclassified drugs.

The Medicaid State Plan Amendment was approved by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services with an effective date of Oct. 1, 2019. The clinical coverage policy was posted on Oct. 10, 2019 for an additional 15-day public comment period. Following the 15-day public comment period, the final Community Support Team policy will be posted with an effective date of Nov. 1, 2019.

NC Medicaid reimburses qualified providers for child medical evaluation and medical team conference services according to guidelines set forth in NC Medicaid policy 1A-5 Child Medical Evaluation and Medical Team Conference for Child Maltreatment.

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).