Family Fun in the Sun

August is National Family Fun month! Summer is slowly winding down and this is the time to look back and be sure you made some great memories with your family. Back to School season is right around the corner, and now is the time to find some quality time for an extra activity for the whole family to enjoy. Family fun can be had anytime and anywhere! 

Here are a few simple ways to have a fun family night indoors:

1. Family movie night with snacks
2. Cook and enjoy a Family Meal together
3. Stream a live event together 
4. Build a fort 
5. Family story time

If you are looking for a family fun activity that takes you out of the house:

1. Visit your local public library
2. Take a walk at a local park
3. Go camping
4. Have a picnic
5. Fly kites

Regardless of what activities you do with your family this month, it is important to remember that the time you spend together is what means the most!

Additional Links:

31 Ideas to Celebrate Family Fun Month

Fun & Free Family Fun Resources

Family Fun Month Ideas

10 Ways to Celebrate Family Fun Month

Make Plans for National Family Fun Month

Children's Eye Health will not be Overlooked this August

 August is children's eye health awareness month. Eye health is an important factor to the overall health and wellness of a child. Children should have their vision checked at least once between the ages of 3 and 5 according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Since children may not have access to the vocabulary to describe poor vision, this makes these check ups a necessary part in proper development of social, emotional, and physical well being. 

Proper eye protection can help to prevent any eye related injury. Please use this resource from health.gov to discover which eye protection you should use while doing various different activities. 

John Hopkins provided a list 8 of potential warning signs that your child may have issues with vision:

1. Disinterest in distant objects
2. Squinting
3. Head Titling
4. Holding Objects very close to eyes
5. Frequent eye rubbing
6. Sensitivity to light
7. Poor hand-eye Coordination
8. Disinterest in reading or viewing distant objects

Consult with your doctor if your child shows any signs of vision problems. Please use this resource to find an eye doctor for your child today. Questions about cost and coverage of an eye visit can be found here. 

Additional Resources

• Child friendly eye information video series
• Children's Diagram of the Eye 
• Pintables about Eye Health
• PreventBlindness.org Children's Vision Report

Who to Call at Paramount

 

Who to Call at Paramount

The team at Paramount Advantage Medicaid stands ready to answer your questions and provide the information you need to care for your patients – and our members! Here are a few of the things that we would be happy to help you with:

·        Credentialing

­   New provider applications

­   Re-credentialing questions

·        Member Services

­  All member questions and grievances

­   Primary care provider change requests

­   Interpreter services

·        Provider Inquiry

­  Member benefits and eligibility

­   Claim status inquiries

­   Claim processing issues

­   Referral and authorization verification

·        Provider Relations

­  Provider and office staff education

­   Contract issues

­   Orientations and webinars

­   New product participation requests

­   Representative office visit requests

·        Utilization and Case Management

­  Obtaining in-plan and out-of-plan prior authorizations

­   Case and care management

­   Behavioral health out-of-plan requests

­   General clinical inquiries

·        Pharmacy

­   Obtaining drug prior authorizations

For an easy reference that includes important Paramount Medicaid phone and fax numbers, download Who to Call at Paramount.

 

Get Ready for National Health Center Week 2021!

National Health Center week is about a week away, it is celebrated this year from August 8- August 14. We are excited to share some of the highlights of the action packed week all about how much we appreciate our FQHCs.

Before we start talking about National Health Center Week, feel free to read this fact sheet to be sure you are fully informed about health centers, their purpose, and their impact! 

The theme for this year's National Health Center Week is: 

The Chemistry of Strong Communities!

This graphic highlights the importance of many elements coming together to help a Community Health Center be successful! If you love this theme, you can purchase merchandise if you desire.

There are many different events held during NHCW all across our state. You can access the full list of those Ohio events here. 

NHCW is all about showing our appreciation for our Health Center workers. You can celebrate at home with this self care tool kit that provides guided ways to care for yourself! 

Advocacy is a key part in the success of our FQHCs. Please visit this page to find out how you can show your support by building your civic engagement capacity! 

For more information and to learn about OACHC's scholarship program visit: https://www.ohiochc.org/page/nhcw

How to Access CEU's on Your ohiochc.org Member Profile

In an effort to better inform our members, we are providing a step-by-step guide for how to access your CEU's (Continuing Education Units) in an OACHC member profile. Please reference back to this blog post as needed.

First step: Sign in at the top, right hand side of the page on https://www.ohiochc.org/

After you are signed in, select "My Profile"

Once you are in your member profile, in the upper right hand corner, select "Welcome, (YOUR NAME)". From the drop down menu, select "Account + Settings"- shown in highlight below.

From here, you will select "Professional Development" on the left hand side- shown in highlight below. 

Finally, you can toggle between "Certifications/ Programs" and "Journal Entries" to view or search for your CEU's!

We hope you found this blog post helpful. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to events@ohiochc.org and we will be happy to assist you further. 

Be Sun Smart

 

Invest in Your Assets with Sunscreen!

    While we are in the midst of the dog days of summer, we would like to remind you to apply your sunscreen! July is UV awareness month. Don't forget to apply (and re-apply) sunscreen if you are going to be outdoors or near windows. Sunscreen and effective sun protection habits can protect you from painful burns in the short-term and skin cancers (the most common type of cancer in the U.S) in the long-term. UV Rays effect more than just the skin, here is a break down of what parts of your body are most affected and what you can do to prevent this:

Head: Sun hats, baseball caps, or scarves

Eyes: Sun glasses or other forms of eye protection

Skin: Sunscreen, SPF clothing, or umbrellas

Provided below is a helpful infographic on a guide to proper sunscreen usage:

Infographic Provided by American Academy of Dermatology Association

By taking the proper precautions, you can still enjoy the summer heat with family and friends. If you are having any problems after being in the sun, be sure to talk to your healthcare provider.

Additional Resources:

• Sun Safety Toolkit
• Sunscreen Guide
• Sunscreen Absorption-evaluated by FDA
• Sun Safety CDC 

Moving the Needle: Push is on to Get Vaccine to Medicaid Members

 

Getting the Vaccine to Medicaid Members

    

By Doreen Cutway
Marketing Communications
Paramount Advantage 

Recently, Gov. Mike DeWine laid down the challenge to all of Ohio’s Medicaid Managed Care Plans: Get more Medicaid members vaccinated. The gap between the vaccination rate of the general public and that of Medicaid recipients as of May 24 was unacceptable: 45% of Ohioans overall vs. just 24% of Medicaid members.

 Even though the vaccine is free to everyone, our Medicaid members face other barriers such as lack of transportation, inflexible work schedules and no ability to make appointments online. Having more Ohioans vaccinated is the key to returning to a pre-pandemic normal, so we’re working with partner providers and pharmacists to wipe out those barriers, one by one.

Providers offering on-the-spot vaccinations to patients who are in their offices for other reasons is very effective, but we heard from you that many providers can’t meet the necessary patient volume and also use valuable office space to observe the patients for 15 minutes as CDC guidelines dictate. It also is a challenge to adjust providers’ workflows to administer the vaccines. Our solution: Through Aug. 15, we’ll pay providers $100 per vaccination instead of the standard $38.

That should make it possible for providers to accommodate the extra work as well as the lower patient volume made necessary by the waiting period.

A working group consisting of representatives from Aetna, Buckeye Health Plan, CareSource, Molina Healthcare, Paramount Advantage and UnitedHealthcare meets regularly to iron out the details and logistics of this and other expanded vaccination efforts.

Of course, we couldn’t be successful without the work of our health care partners: the physicians who are altering their operations to offer those shots; the nurses who are staffing the many public vaccination events we’re planning; and the pharmacists who are making their stores another vaccination opportunity.

All of us in health care have important roles to play in spreading the vaccine and stopping the virus. We’re proud to harness the creativity and commitment of the health plans to meeting this unique challenge.