RA Messages for December 16, 2014

PHARMACY PROVIDERS, PLEASE NOTE!!!

If you are unsure about the coverage of a drug product, please contact the PBM help desk at 1-800-648-0790.

Please file adjustments for claims that may have been incorrectly paid. Only those products of the manufacturers which participate in the Federal Rebate Program will be covered by the Medicaid program. Participation may be verified in Appendix C, available at http://www.lamedicaid.com/.

Should you have any questions regarding any of the following messages, please contact Molina Medicaid Solutions at (800) 473-2783 or (225) 924-5040.

New Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals Adverse Actions Web Search:

As a condition of participation in the Louisiana Medicaid Program, providers are responsible for ensuring current and potential employees, contractors and other agents and affiliates have not been excluded from participation in the Medicaid, or Medicare Program by Louisiana Medicaid, or the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General. Providers who employ or contract with excluded individuals or entities may be subject to penalties of $10,000 for each item or services the excluded individual or entity furnished.

Providers have been previously instructed to check the websites of the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General at http://exclusions.oig.hhs.gov and the System for Award Management (SAM) website at https://sam.gov/portal/SAM#1 for any exclusion imposed at the federal level upon hire and monthly thereafter for employees and/or subcontractors that perform services that are compensated with Medicaid/Medicare funds. Please be reminded that the SAM site is only for entities, and providers do not need to check employees on the SAM site.

Effective immediately, providers should check the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals Adverse Actions website at https://adverseactions.dhh.la.gov upon hire and monthly thereafter for individuals and entities that have had adverse actions imposed. This is a user friendly site that allows single and multiple searches of individuals and entities. The user may also choose to export the database and have it available in an Excel spreadsheet. Providers are required to maintain proof in their records that checks were done for employees and/or subcontractors. This may be done by printing out the result of the search.

All current and previous names used such as first, middle, maiden, married or hyphenated names and aliases for all owners, employees and contractors should be checked. If an individual's or entity's name appears on these websites, this person or entity is considered excluded and is barred from working with Medicare and/or the Louisiana Medicaid Program in any capacity. If the exclusion is learned prior to employment the provider should not employ the person or entity. If the provider learns of the exclusion after hiring the provider must notify the Department of Health and Hospitals within ten working days of discovering the exclusion with the following information:

Name of the excluded individual or entity and
Status of the individual or entity (applicant or employee/contractor).

If the individual or entity is an employee or contractor, the provider should also include the following information:

Beginning and ending dates of the individual's or entity's employment or contract with the agency,
Documentation of termination of employment or contract, and
Type of service(s) provided by the excluded individual or entity.

These findings should be reported to:

DHH.Medicaid.State.Exclusion@la.gov or

Department of Health and Hospitals
Program Integrity
P.O. Box 91030
Baton Rouge, LA 70821-9030

This new adverse actions web search tool does not replace the Nurse Aide Registry/Direct Service Worker Registry found at www.labenfa.com. Providers that employee Certified Nursing Assistants (CNA) and Direct Service Workers (DSW) are still required to check these registries upon hire and every six months thereafter.

These requirements are identified in the Provider Enrollment Agreements, the Medical Assistance Program Integrity Law (MAPIL) cited as Louisiana Revised Statute 46:437, referenced in the Louisiana Administrative Code (LAC) Title 50 and the Code of Federal Regulations 42 CFR § 455.436.

All excluded individuals must request reinstatement after the minimum excluded period has been served. There is no automatic reinstatement at either the federal or state level.

Attention: DHH Offers Take Charge Plus for Males and Females

Effective September 1, 2014, Louisiana Medicaid implemented a new family planning program called Take Charge Plus. Males and females of child bearing age are eligible for the program. Take Charge Plus increases the number of annual family planning related visits from four to seven and offers additional services not offered through the current family planning program. Take Charge Plus now offers treatment of sexually transmitted infections, treatment of cervical dysplasia, and transportation to family planning appointments among several other new services. Bulletins, fee schedules, and provider manual updates related to Take Charge Plus can be found at www.lamedicaid.com.