March 14, 2018
Advocates are up in arms about the ADA Education and Reform Act of 2017 (H.R. 620) which has now passed the U.S. House of Representatives. This bill could set disability rights back decades and violate the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The purpose of the bill is to require the Disability Rights Section of the Department…
Read moreWithin the NC DHHS Behavioral Health Strategic Plan, there is goal to build community-based services with a particular focus on creating “step-down” services from inpatient care. Mark Benton, NC DHHS Deputy Secretary for Health Services, noted to the Joint Legislative Oversight Behavioral Health Subcommittee on February 27th that NC DHHS is looking at the RIST…
Read moreFor the last several years the state has surveyed Medicaid Providers, adults and those receiving child services to determine satisfaction with care and LME/MCO management. According to the Division of Medical Assistance, the Experience of Care and Health Outcomes (EHOC) is to “…assess consumer perceptions of the care they received through the seven LME-MCOs in…
Read moreWe are excited to announce that Paolo del Vecchio, MSW, Director of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) will be the keynote speaker at the Opening Plenary for the Spring Conference on June 11th in Raleigh. In his role, del Vecchio provides executive leadership for federal efforts to improve…
Read moreNC DHHS has been publishing concept papers since last summer to provide information on specific areas of Medicaid Transformation. The Medicaid Transformation website now separates out concept papers, RFPs, the waiver amendment, application, etc. It is important to note that concept papers are point-in-time proposals by NC DHHS and include comment periods. The waiver amendment and…
Read moreMarch 12, 2018
An ongoing focus in North Carolina has been on children who are in or at-risk of being in the foster care system. No one wants a child to live out of their home setting, yet approximately 11,000 kids in North Carolina are doing just that. Children in foster care have extensive needs, including mental health,…
Read moreMarch 11, 2018
NC DHHS recently posted its latest Medicaid Transformation concept paper focused on the Standard Plan access to care and network adequacy standards. The paper does not outline standards for the Tailored Plan. The difference between the current access to care standards under the Medicaid (b)(c) waiver and the proposed requirements under the Standard Plan are…
Read moreMarch 10, 2018
NC’s State Health Director and Chief Medical Officer for the NC Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Dr. Betsy Tilson recently shared with the members of the Developmental Disabilities Consortium how DHHS is working to address social determinants of health (SDOH) for Medicaid recipients. The state is looking at a multi-layered approach to tackling…
Read more