Excerpt from CMS QPP Small Practices Newsletter:

2025 Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers Survey (CAHPS) for MIPS Survey Registration Now Open

Registration is open through June 30, 2025, at 8 p.m. ET for the CAHPS for MIPS Survey for the 2025 performance year. 

Who can register? 

• Groups, virtual groups, and APM Entities that intend to administer the CAHPS for MIPS Survey as 1 of their 6 quality measures for reporting traditional MIPS
• Groups, subgroups, and APM Entities that are registered to report the following MVPs and that intend to administer the CAHPS for MIPS Survey as 1 of their 4 quality measures:
• Adopting Best Practices and Promoting Patient Safety within Emergency Medicine MVP
• Advancing Cancer Care MVP
• Value in Primary Care MVP

 How to Register 

Groups, virtual groups, and APM Entities will register on the QPP website. You’ll need to have the Security Official role to register your organization. Please refer to the QPP Access User Guide (ZIP, 4MB) for information about obtaining a Security Official role for your organization. To register: 

• Sign in to QPP.
• Click Start Registration from the landing page.
• Click Register or Edit CAHPS Registration.

Subgroups interested in administering the CAHPS for MIPS Survey as 1 of their 4 required quality measures will need to complete their MVP registration prior to registering for the CAHPS for MIPS Survey. After completing the subgroup’s MVP registration, they will need to contact the QPP Service Center by email at QPP@cms.hhs.gov, by creating a QPP Service Center ticket, or by phone at 1‑866‑288‑8292 (Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. – 8 p.m. ET) to register for the CAHPS for MIPS Survey.

You must register by 8 p.m. ET on June 30, 2025. 

 Additional Resource

• 2025 CAHPS for MIPS Survey Registration Guide (PDF, 946KB)

NEW WEBINAR SERIES

NC Medicaid Provider Enrollment

NCDHHS-DHB Credentialing Committee Initiative Stakeholder Engagement Session#3

Please join NC AHEC and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS), Division of Health Benefits (DHB), for the third stakeholder teleconference on June 25 from 2-3 p.m. to continue the discussion of a new initiative led in tandem with General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT). This initiative will establish a Credentialing Committee aimed at maintaining a high-quality, ethical, and competent provider network to support NC Medicaid beneficiaries.

This third forum will offer stakeholders:

• A collaborative forum to discuss the committee’s future role in the provider enrollment and credentialing process to determine compliance of regulatory requirements by NC Medicaid provider applicants.
• A deeper dive into the roles of committee members. 
• Status of committee bylaws.
• Review of frequently asked questions and answers pertaining to the development of this project.

These stakeholder engagement sessions will occur monthly, as follows, until the project implementation and are intended to be interactive as the Department values input from partnering stakeholders:

• June 25, 2025
• July 30, 2025
• August 27, 2025
• September 24, 2025

You are encouraged to submit your related questions and comments for targeted open discussion at the meetings to Medicaid.credcommittee.stakeholders@dhhs.nc.gov. We look forward to connecting with you!

We’re excited to share a new opportunity from SEAHEC: the Healthcare Mastery Series, a free three-part learning experience designed to strengthen your front office operations and clinical documentation practices.

This series offers practical tools and expert-led insights on:

• Front Office Professional– June 11 at 12 PM
• Point of Service Collections– June 18 at 12 PM
• Coding and Documentation: Revised Guidelines for Office and Hospital Evaluation and Management Coding– July 16 at 12 PM

Each session is a FREE, one hour and tailored to help your team enhance patient engagement, streamline workflows, and stay current with evolving standards in healthcare delivery. 

You can register for any or all of the webinars.

For more details, see the brochure HERE. 

The Practice Manager Boot Camp is designed to provide new practice managers with the information they need to run their practices effectively, for experienced managers seeking refresher training or to learn new skills, and for staff members with practice management or leadership responsibilities.

The next cohort for this virtual program begins on July 17,2025 and registration fee discounts are available for early registration.

Divided into a total of 36 on-hour sessions within nine separate modules, participants can choose to either register for the full boot camp  (with a 25% discount on the full registration fee), or for individual modules within it. 

The courses meet via live webinar on Thursday afternoons from 3:00-4:00 PM and are recorded for later viewing.

Learn more about the boot camp and individual modules.

If you have any questions, contact Jane Moran at jane.moran@sr-ahec.org!

Our colleagues at Wake AHEC in Raleigh, NC are offering a one-day, in-person workshop to provide updates on HIPAA Compliance issues for local health departments. 

Date and Time:

June 26, 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM

Core topics of the workshop include:

• Hybrid entity designations
• Breach response
• Business associate relationships
• Sharing information with local Departments of Social Services

Faculty:

Jill D. Moore, JD, MPH, Associate Professor of Public Law and Government

Kirsten Leloudis, JD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Public Law and Government

Learn more and register

The role of Physician Assistant (PA) in North Carolina is integral to the healthcare system.  Physician Assistants are trained to provide high-quality care, often serving as primary care providers. 

Our colleagues from South Piedmont AHEC are offering a free lunchtime webinar to learn more about this important health care professional.

Overview of Physician Assistants in North Carolina -- Regulations, Scope of Practice, and Common Questions

April 30, 2025 | 12 PM - 1 PM

There is no registration fee for this webinar!

Today we bring you some important news from United Healthcare.

Don't lose access to the United Healthcare Provider Portal! Make sure your sign-in options include passkey, authenticator and/or a verified phone number by March 6th.

What's changing and when

A security update to the UnitedHealthcare Provider Portal is coming soon.  This will affect how you sign in to the portal and gain access if you're ever locked out.

Currently, many use email as a recovery and multifactor authentication option. On March 6, 2025, this option won't be available. Be prepared; review your options now.

UnitedHealthcare provider portal authentication webpage has all the details you need to ensure your access is maintained.

You can also review FAQs on the changes.

There are courses available to you on a variety of topics!

Topics for 2025 include:

Leadership, Operations Management and Quality Improvement.

Learn more and register:

If your organization participates in the Aetna State Plan, we advise you to confirm your participation ahead of the January 1, 2025 launch date!

Effective January 1, 2025, Aetna will replace Blue Cross Blue Shield NC for the NC State Health Plan coverage.

Which plans are included?

• Enhanced PPO Plan (80/20)
• Basic PPO Plan (70/30)
• High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP)

This change does NOT impact members enrolled in the Humana Medicare Advantage plans.

The current pharmacy benefit manager (CVS Caremark®) will not change.