The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services today announced the state’s five Medicaid prepaid health plans have joined NCCARE360 — the nation’s first statewide coordinated care network connecting individuals to local services and resources.
Health plans AmeriHealth Caritas North Carolina Inc., Carolina Complete Health Inc., Healthy Blue of North Carolina Inc., UnitedHealthcare of North Carolina Inc. and WellCare of North Carolina Inc. have joined the NCCARE360 network and will use the platform to coordinate whole-person care, promote health equity and address the social drivers that influence their members’ health.
"NCCARE360 is critical to the department’s goal of effectively delivering health, not just health care, by addressing the medical and non-medical drivers of health, including housing, food, transportation and interpersonal safety," said Dave Richard, Deputy Secretary of NC Medicaid. "Medicaid health plans will use NCCARE360 to help address the unmet resource needs of their members and strengthen partnerships between health care providers and their communities."
NCCARE360, part of the NCDHHS Healthy Opportunities initiative, will allow health plans to make electronic referrals, communicate in real time, securely share client information and track outcomes. Community members can search NCCARE360’s repository of more than 10,000 local services at nccare360.org/resources.
"We are excited to have the NC Medicaid health plans on the NCCARE360 network. The partnership will better connect North Carolina Medicaid members to the comprehensive community services they need while ultimately helping to build healthier and more equitable communities," said Kelly Calabria, CEO and President of the Foundation for Health Leadership and Innovation, which oversees and administers NCCARE360.
Since the development of NCCARE360’s statewide network, health and human service providers in all 100 North Carolina counties have made more than 130,000 electronic referrals to connect individuals and families to the resources they need to stay healthy and well.
"This is an important partnership specifically designed to improve the overall health outcomes of more than 1.6 million of the state’s Medicaid beneficiaries, making it a natural fit for each of the state’s five Medicaid managed care health plans," said Peter Daniel, Executive Director of the N.C. Association of Health Plans. We are proud to be a part of this network."
More information about the transition to NC Medicaid Managed Care can be found on the Medicaid website at medicaid.ncdhhs.gov/transformation.