DHHS Secretary Aldona Wos and Chief Information Officer Joe Cooper visited the NCTracks Call Center last week to check on progress since the multi-payer system went live last July 1.

In the Call Center, where the low din of conversation never ceases as more than 3,000 calls arrive daily, the difference a year can make could be seen in the wall charts tracking progress of calls answered quickly and satisfactorily. Secretary Wos thanked those few agents who could speak between answering calls.

The two also visited briefly with the Computer Sciences Corp. medical officers responsible for prior approvals, and they sat in on mock interviews for upcoming certification from the federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

They met several call center agents who had been trained on NCFAST earlier that week. Soon, the NCTracks agents will be able to check recipient eligibility on NCFAST for providers before that information has been loaded into NCTracks. While recipient eligibility information eventually appears in NCTracks and a provider can check it there, for now there’s a delay between the time eligibility is approved in NCFAST and then shared in NCTracks. The call center agents will fill that gap.

To all, Secretary Wos expressed gratitude.  She thanked the medical director and pediatrician for their work in getting patient prior approvals completed. She thanked the part-time orthodontists, surrounded by clear plastic boxes of teeth molds, for “stepping up to the plate and doing right by those who need these services.”