ELIZABETHTOWN — The North Carolina Office of Rural Health has awarded a grant to Bladen Medical Associates, a division of Cape Fear Valley Healthcare, LLC, that will assist patients in covering the cost of appointments with their primary care doctor. The program is called the Medical Access Plan, or MAP for short. 

The staff at BMA, which is located at 300A E. McKay St., are excited about the grant funding and are eager to share it with their new patient population, said Jennifer Coble, practice administrator.

“The medical access plan is similar to a sliding fee scale program that helps residents of North Carolina access primary health care services when they meet certain financial criteria and do not have primary health insurance that covers their specific primary health care needs,” said Coble. “Patients are expected to make the practice their primary care ‘home’ and to use it for their primary care needs.”

Coble said for a patient to learn if he or she qualifies for MAP is a relatively easy process.

“In order for a patient to qualify to participate in MAP, they must be a patient of Bladen Medical Associates and be a resident of North Carolina,” said Coble. “They must also provide proof of applying for North Carolina Medicaid and being denied in the past six months to be eligible to participate.”

If a patient has satisfied the above requirements, Coble says they will need to provide her with information similar to that required for the Medicaid application to review their eligibility for the MAP program.

“The criteria used is based on the patient’s income and their economic unit size which is defined by the number of individuals that occupy a household,” said Coble. “Once this information is gathered, it is then entered into the Federal Poverty Table Worksheet which then determines their eligibility.”

The results of the worksheet will then be used to determine of the patient will have no co-pay or no mare than a $25 co-pay per visit. Coble added that any co-pay that is due must be paid at the time of service in order for the patient to continue in the program.

The patient is allowed to participate in the program for one year and then they must renew their application, said Coble. 

According to the MAP Reference Manual, some things which are covered under MAP include:

• Medically required on-site provider encounters;

• Medically required laboratory tests as listed in Appendix G: Lab Panel;

• The portion of medically required x-rays taken and/or read on-site. BMA does not perform x-rays on-site, according to Coble;

• The portion of medically required surgical services performed by practice providers. BMA doesn’t perform full-blown surgery, but instead does only those things which can be performed in-house, said Coble;

• The portion of obstetrical care (including antepartum, delivery and postpartum care) provided by practice providers. Coble said obstetrical care is not currently covered at BMA.

• The portion of medically required hospital, nursing home and home care services performed by practice providers;

• Testing for PAP smear or PSA (prostrate cancer screening) and the related preventive care visit, the frequency of which must be in accordance with the frequency of Medicare treatment guidelines based on the patent’s risk factors (visit and test count as one MAP visit);

• Diabetes Outpatient Self-Management Training Services provided by a certified diabetes educator (BMA currently does not offer this, but Coble said they are talking with an educator).

Coble said the medical access plan is not to be confused with the Bladen HealthWatch program called the Medication Assistance Plan as it also goes by the acronym MAP. Coble stressed the medication assistance program is a completely separate program and totally different from the BMA program.

“The HealthWatch program just does medicine,” said Coble.

She added, in certain cases, patients may qualify for both programs.

For questions or to learn if you may qualify for MAP, contact Coble at 862-5500 or go by the BMA offices and notify the front desk you are there to inquire about the MAP program.

“The staff will know what to do,” said Coble.