August 18, 2021
There has been much discussion and action in the past year related to the Cardinal Innovations counties that are no longer satisfied with their service management that will bring major changes to the catchment areas of a number of LME/MCOs.. Before a county can disengage from their LME/MCO, there are regulatory requirements that provide timelines and steps that must first occur. Click here to look at those regulations. Here’s what we know about potential changes at the time of this writing:
November 5, 2020: Orange County commissioners vote to disengage from Cardinal Innovations and begin merger actions with Alliance Health. Click here to track Orange’s realignment plan.
May 20, 2021: Forsyth County commissioners vote to disengage from Cardinal Innovations and begin merger actions with Partners Health Management. Click here to track Forsyth’s realignment plan.
June 1, 2021: Mecklenburg County commissioners vote to disengage with Cardinal Innovations and begin merger actions with Alliance Health. Click here to track Mecklenburg’s realignment plan.
June 22, 2021: Davidson County commissioners vote to disengage with Cardinal Innovations and begin merger actions with Sandhills Center. Click here to track Davidson’s realignment plan.
June 29, 2021: Davie County commissioners vote to disengage with Cardinal Innovations and begin merger actions with Partners Health Management. Click here to track Davie’s realignment plan.
June 29, 2021: Stokes County send a letter to NC DHHS Secretary indicating a possible disengagement from Cardinal Innovations.
July 19, 2021: Rockingham County commissioners vote to disengage with Cardinal Innovations and begin merger actions with Sandhills Center. Click here to track Rockingham’s realignment plan.
September 1, 2021: Cabarrus, Stanly and Union counties will disengage with Cardinal Innovations and move to Partners Health Management. Click here for more information about the realignment of these counties from Cardinal Innovations. Click here for more information about the realignment of these counties to Partners Health Management.
June 30, 2022: Consolidation of Cardinal Innovations with Vaya is scheduled to be completed for those counties that have not previously disengaged or are not in the disengagement process.
According to the NC DHHS webpage on these changes, there are four counties (Chatham, Halifax, Stokes and Warren) that are “pending”. At least one of these counties, Stokes, has expressed some level of interest in disengagement but has not yet taken action.
If you want to look at how this may impact the number of Medicaid eligible individuals served by each LME/MCO, here is a resource of Medicaid beneficiary data: https://medicaid.ncdhhs.gov/medicaid-and-health-choice-enrollment-reports