Provider Resources: Public Health Emergency Annual Medicaid Eligibility Review Provider Fact Sheet; Update on Medicaid Bulletin Terminology
In order to comply with provisions of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (SCDHHS) paused the typical annual eligibility review process for the state’s Healthy Connections Medicaid members effective Jan. 27, 2020. When the current federal COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) ends, state Medicaid agencies will be required to resume reviewing the eligibility of all Medicaid members.
During the federal PHE, it is very important that Healthy Connections Medicaid members notify SCDHHS if their address has changed. If SCDHHS does not have accurate contact information for its members, they may miss important information on renewing and maintaining their health care coverage.
Providers can play an important role in helping SCDHHS communicate this and other important information about the federal PHE to their patients who are Healthy Connections Medicaid members. SCDHHS, along with South Carolina’s five managed care organizations, has produced a new fact sheet for providers that explains how the eventual end of the federal PHE may impact their patients’ Medicaid eligibility. The fact sheet is available on SCDHHS’ new Medicaid annual reviews website, www.scdhhs.gov/annualreviews.
The end date for the federal COVID-19 PHE is still unknown. For questions about annual reviews and the unwinding of the PHE, please email AnnualReviews@scdhhs.gov. SCDHHS policy guidance and flexibilities issued during the federal COVID-19 PHE remain available at www.scdhhs.gov/COVID19.
Update on Medicaid Bulletin and Medicaid Alert Terminology
After receiving feedback from the provider community, SCDHHS is consolidating its proactive provider communications, which were previously classified as “Medicaid alerts” or “Medicaid bulletins,” under a single terminology: “Medicaid bulletins.” As a part of this change, the type of action the Medicaid bulletin describes will be added to the subject line of the communication. Examples of this will include “policy change,” “reimbursement rate change,” “provider training,” etc. These communications will continue to be distributed via email and posted on the bulletins page of SCDHHS’ website. Providers can update the topics on which they receive proactive communications from SCDHHS, or add additional email addresses, by entering an email address and clicking “subscribe” from the bulletins page.
Thank you for your continued support of the South Carolina Healthy Connections Medicaid program.