We gather on this day to be thankful for what we have, for the family we love, the friends we cherish, and for the blessings that will come. Happy Thanksgiving!

In between your holiday feasting we invite you to check out these updates, as we find helpful resources we will post them here weekly:

Welcome to the Best Practices in Opioids Prescribing and Management Webinars

We invite you to learn more about the lectures available for viewing and select what interests you, choose any or all 10. These pre-recorded lectures are all online via your computer or mobile device at your own pace. Prescribers will find modules that address content required by their individual boards for opioid-focused continuing education and other modules that highlight vulnerable and special populations like adolescents, geriatrics, those in hospice, pregnant women and those affected by homelessness. This activity is targeted to those interested in best practices for opioid prescribing and management and opioid use disorder, including physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, behavioral health and addiction medicine specialists, and social service professionals.

AHEC has provided support to produce these modules and offer them at a reduced registration fee of just $10 per session ($100 for all 10 sessions).

To learn more about each session or to register for individual lectures – CLICK HERE:

1. Opioids and Opioid Use Disorders: Where Are We Now
2. Balancing an Epidemic of Opioid Misuse and Abuse with the Ethical Duty to Treat Pain
3. Opioid Use Disorder: Signs and Symptoms, Levels of Care, Referral
   Sources and Assessment Tools
4. Vulnerable Populations and Opioid Prescribing and Management - Hospice
5. Opioids and Opioid Use Disorder in Youth (under 21)
6. Non-Pharmacologic Integrative Medicine Approaches for Managing Pain
7. Substance Use Disorder Treatment in the Age of Social Distancing
8. Substance Use Disorder: Treating Homelessness and Special Populations
9. Pearls of Wisdom and Lines in the Sand: Scope and Management of
   Opioid Use During Pregnancy
10. Vulnerable Populations and Opioid Prescribing and Management: Geriatrics

View credit information and more details on our website!

We invite you to check out these other updates for the week, as we find helpful resources we will share them here weekly:

Independent practices eligible for state funds through the NCMS Foundation administered Financial Recovery Program (FRP), now may receive an increased maximum payout of $160,000 for tier 1 practices and $120,000 for tier 2 practices.

We invite you to check out these other updates for the week, as we find helpful resources we will share them here weekly:

We invite you to check out these other updates for the week, as we find helpful resources we will share them here weekly:

Join us for this upcoming Webinar SEAHEC  is hosting:

Connecting Communities of Care via Health Information Exchange,

Wednesday, October 28th 12-12:30 PM

Presenter: Jessica Brehmer, Business Development and Outreach Specialist for the Health Information Exchange Authority (HIEA) NC HealthConnex is a secure, electronic network that facilitates conversations between authorized health care providers by allowing them to access and share health-related information. In this session, the speaker will present on the vision of NC HealthConnex, explain how NC HealthConnex can alleviate the burden of logging into multiple systems, and provide use cases demonstrating how providers across the state are leveraging the NC HealthConnex suite of services to better inform patient care.

Register and find out more information here!

Medicaid Managed Care Updates

Medicaid managed care will go live July 1, 2021 

A practice can change its AMH Tier level by following the steps outlined by NC Medicaid: click here to read more.

Make sure to double check NC Tracks information for accuracy and make changes if needed 

Join NC AHEC for these upcoming Medicaid Webinars in Series:

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Division of Health Benefits and North Carolina AHEC are offering two monthly evening webinar series to help prepare providers, practice managers, and quality managers for Medicaid Managed Care going live on July 1, 2021.

A new report published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) finds that rates for alcohol induced deaths among persons 25 and over increased from 2000 through 2018.

Key findings
Data from the National Vital Statistics System, Mortality

• Age-adjusted rates of alcohol-induced deaths among adults aged 25 and over were stable from 2000 to 2006, then increased 43% from 10.7 per 100,000 in 2006 to 15.3 in 2018.
• For both males and females, alcohol-induced death rates increased at a greater rate between 2000 and 2018 in rural compared with urban areas.
• Among males, the rate of alcohol-induced deaths was highest in large central metro areas in 2000 (21.3); by 2018, rates in medium (25.1) and small metro (25.9), micropolitan (26.7), and noncore (25.3) areas were highest.
• Among females, the rate of alcohol-induced deaths in noncore areas (4.4) was among the lowest in 2000; by 2018, rates in noncore areas had more than doubled (9.9).

Read the full report at https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db383.htm [cdc.gov].