February 11, 2020
The Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Medicaid and NC Health Choice met this afternoon to receive an update from DHHS on Medicaid Transformation and NC Health Choice.
Dave Richard, Deputy Secretary for NC Medicaid, and Jay Ludlam, Assistant Secretary for Medicaid Transformation, updated committee members on Medicaid transformation activity in North Carolina since its suspension in November.
The presenters gave an overview of legislative action needed in order to move forward with Medicaid transformation, which included specific budget provisions to appropriately fund a transition to managed care.
Since the delay of Medicaid transformation in November, DHHS has communicated with providers and beneficiaries on the status of transformation and what to expect moving forward. The department has also continued to meet regularly with the health plans, engage with stakeholders to continue to facilitate the transition to managed care, and has continued to move forward with managed care related programs.
Although Medicaid transformation care was delayed, the Healthy Opportunities Pilot Program continues to move forward. Healthy Opportunities is a federally-authorized pilot program to test evidence-based, health-related social service interventions designed to improve health outcomes and reduce healthcare costs for a subset of Medicaid enrollees. No pilot funds are planned to be expended in this fiscal year, but the RFP will be awarded in late spring or early summer.
Dave Richard also gave an update on Medicaid and NC Health Choice enrollment and trends, along with a financial update. Over the last several years, enrollment and expenditures for these programs have been relatively flat. Charts on enrollment numbers can be found here, and figures on NC Medicaid and Health Choice expenditures can be found here.
The committee will convene again on March 10, 2020.