June 09, 2011

Dear Migrant Fee-for-Service Provider,

As the Director of the North Carolina Farmworker Health Program, within the Office of Rural Health and Community Care, I want to take this opportunity to thank you for the service that you have provided over the years to your local community including the migrant farmworkers who have received your services. Because of your willingness to participate in the Migrant Fee-for-Service Program, you have contributed to increased access and provided vital quality care health care services for farmworkers in North Carolina. In 2010, Fee-for-Service providers saw 1,700 migrant farmworkers and their family members providing 1,897 medical encounters and over 313 dental encounters. Thank you!

As a key player in the network that serves this vulnerable population, I wanted to let you know that the state funds that support the Migrant Health Fee-for-Service Program are slated to be eliminated as of July 1, 2011. If the funds are cut, services provided July 1st and after will not be covered by the Migrant Fee-for-Service Program. Claims for services through June 30, 2011 should be submitted to Purchase of Medical Care Services as you have done to date. We encourage you to submit all claims as soon as possible to ensure a timely payment.

The North Carolina Farmworker Health Program will continue to support local agencies to provide case management services, health education and medical services through our current health care contracts. Therefore, the farmworker health coordinators that have been referring patients to you will work hard to assist farmworkers with accessing care. In these difficult economic times, we encourage you to work with your local farmworker health outreach coordinator to explore the possibilities of continuing to help meet the urgent needs of the farmworkers in your region. Programmatically we have begun meeting with the Migrant Health Entry Points to anticipate how this change may affect their areas and to explore other possible resources.

If you have any questions about the program, please do not hesitate to contact me at (919) 733-2040 ext. 231 or via email at elizabeth.freeman@dhhs.nc.gov.

Sincerely,


Elizabeth Freeman Lambar, Program Director
NC Farmworker Health Program, ORHCC, NC DHHS