Topics Related to Health Benefits (NC Medicaid)

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services’ State Center for Health Statistics has created an interactive map with a series of overlays showing social determinants of health indicators in North Carolina, including the economic, social and neighborhood, and housing and transportation status of residents across the state.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services today released a request for proposal for independent enrollment broker services that will help beneficiaries enroll in the North Carolina Medicaid and NC Health Choice managed care programs.

Today at the Cardinal Innovations Board meeting in Winston-Salem, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services transitioned leadership and governance of the organization to the new board and to the Cardinal Innovations executive leadership team.

The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services today announced that the newly appointed board for Cardinal Innovations will meet to hold its first official board meeting this weekend. The new board will convene on Friday evening, Jan. 26, for another training session and will come into session for its first official board meeting on Saturday, Jan. 27. At this board meeting, DHHS intends to transition leadership and governance of the organization to the new board and the Cardinal Innovations executive leadership team.

Since arriving on site on Nov. 27, DHHS staff discovered documents that raise serious concerns about proposed financial activities by former board leadership and former CEO. Based on this information, DHHS filed and was granted a temporary restraining order in Mecklenburg County to ensure that former board members and the former CEO have no access to Cardinal's funds. DHHS has taken a variety of administrative actions related to the financial management of the organization; in addition to those activities we are pursuing this litigation out of an abundance of caution in the protection of taxpayer dollars.

Effective immediately, the N.C Department of Health and Human Services has temporarily assumed leadership of Cardinal Innovations, an LME-MCO authorized under state law to provide essential behavioral services using public funds.

The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services today submitted to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services an amendment to the 1115 Demonstration Waiver application originally submitted by North Carolina in 2016. Submitting this amended waiver application is an important next step in implementing the Proposed Program Design for Medicaid Managed Care that DHHS published in August.

DHHS has released two documents related to our investigation of Cardinal Innovations. First, as required by state law, DHHS Office of Internal Audit has conducted a six-month Follow-Up Assessment based on the Office of State Audit report that was released in May 2017. Second, DHHS Office of Internal Audit has provided an additional interim report to DHHS leadership associated with a site visit it conducted at Cardinal Innovations on October 30.

DHHS today released “Behavioral Health and Intellectual/Developmental Disability Tailored Plan,' the first in a series of Medicaid managed care program concept papers. These concept papers, which DHHS will continue to release over the next several months, provide details on certain components of the managed care program design. DHHS invites stakeholders to provide input by sending an email to Medicaid.Transformation@dhhs.nc.gov. Visit the DHHS Medicaid Transformation website at ncdhhs.gov/nc-medicaid-transformation for more on the North Carolina Medicaid transition to managed care.

The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services today asked health care providers, health plans and other stakeholders to provide information that will help the department transform the state Medicaid and NC Health Choice programs to managed care, as directed by the General Assembly in 2015.