COVID-19: ForwardHealth News and Resources

IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING THE END OF THE COVID-19 PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY

During the federal COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE), the federal government allowed the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) to implement temporary changes to some policies to facilitate the protection of member health. When the federal government announced the end of the COVID-19 PHE effective May 11, 2023, DHS communicated changes resulting from Unwinding those temporary policies. “Unwinding” is the term used by the federal government to describe the actions states take to resume routine operations at the end of the COVID-19 PHE. In some cases, this involved a return to policies from before the PHE; in other cases, temporary changes turned into permanent policies that became part of routine operations. The Unwinding communications below describe the status and timeline of policies.

2023-14: Important Information Regarding the End of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (04/25/23)

Policies that returned to routine operations

• Update 2023-17: COVID-19 Unwinding: Nursing Home Levels of Care (05/05/23)
• Update 2022-46: Return to Certain Pre-COVID-19 Pharmacy Policies Effective December 1, 2022

• Alert 073: COVID-19 Unwinding: Same-Day Transportation to COVID-19 Vaccination, Testing, and Treatment Appointments for Eligible BadgerCare Plus and Wisconsin Medicaid Members (4/26/23)
• Alert 074: COVID-19 Unwinding: Presumptive Eligibility Rollback (4/27/23)
• Alert 076: COVID-19 Unwinding: Urgent Prior Authorization Requests (5/2/23)
• Alert 078: COVID-19 Unwinding: Medicaid-Enrolled Provider Requirement for Prescribing, Referring, or Ordering Certain COVID-19-Related Laboratory Codes (5/11/23)
• Alert 079: COVID-19 Unwinding: Hospital Billing for COVID-19 Vaccine Administration (5/11/23)

Temporary policies that became permanent

• 2023-15: COVID-19 Unwinding: Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants Ordering Home Health Services (05/01/23)

Temporary policies continuing until further notice

• Update 2023-21: COVID-19 Unwinding: COVID-19 Vaccines, Treatments, and Laboratory Services (6/5/23)

Policy requirements vary, refer to alert

• Alert 075: COVID-19 Unwinding: CPR and Respiratory Care Services Training Requirements (4/27/23)

Policies that have become obsolete

• Alert 077: COVID-19 Unwinding: Procedure Codes for High Throughput COVID-19 Laboratory Testing (5/11/23)
• Alert 080: COVID-19 Unwinding: Certain COVID-19 Vaccine Procedure Codes End-Dated Due to End of Emergency Use Authorization

Crosswalk of COVID-19 Forward Health Communications with Associated Unwinding Communication

Download the Wisconsin Department of Health Services COVID-19 News Update Crosswalk for Providers

Telehealth COVID-19 and Unwinding Alerts and Updates

The Telehealth Resources for Providers page includes summaries and explanations of the recently published materials, FAQs, and resources, all pertaining to telehealth.

Review Telehealth related Unwinding Alerts and Updates.

General resources for COVID-19 information

• All stakeholders: COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease) DHS Webpage
• Providers:
  • Provider Toolkit
  • COVID-19: Health Care Providers DHS Webpage
• Medicaid Providers: Telehealth Resources for Providers
• Members and participants: COVID-19 ForwardHealth Program Updates DHS Webpage
• ForwardHealth Community Partners: Recent ForwardHealth Community Partner Emails
• Member eligibility policy updates (FoodShare, MAPP, Enrollment, BadgerCare Plus, and Medicaid information): Wisconsin Programs Eligibility Policy Updates Call Series

Resources and Links for Providers

• Human Infection with 2019 Novel Coronavirus Person Under Investigation (PUI) and Case Report Form
• Information for Healthcare Professionals, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Webpage
• Learn about resilience and how to build it through resources available at Resilient Wisconsin.
• Healthcare workers are able to view up-to-date availability of child care across the state using the map on the Department of Children and Families website.

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