Feb. 1, 2018 – North Carolina Medicaid, which ensures that nearly 2 million children, seniors and people with disabilities receive health care, finished the 2017 state fiscal year with more than $86 million in cash-on-hand.
In addition to key improvements to the Medicaid program to combat the opioid crisis and improve overall accountability, it was the fourth straight year for Medicaid to close with savings.
Since 2014, Medicaid has returned savings of more than $500 million in unspent money to the State Treasury, a result of prudent budgeting, forecasting and day-to-day monitoring and oversight.
The savings are among accomplishments outlined in the annual report on the Medicaid and NC Health Choice programs for state fiscal year 2017, which runs July 1, 2016 through June 30, 2017.
The programs are administered by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services’ Division of Medical Assistance. Highlights for the fiscal year include:
- Introduction of new safe prescriber policies to combat the opioid crisis;
- Preparations for Medicaid transformation from fee-for-service to managed care;
- Rollout of interactive dashboards to provide a visual interpretation of complex Medicaid data;
- Launch of a consumer-directed care model that provides families and beneficiaries with greater flexibility and autonomy to obtain services in home- and community-based care; and
- Addition of 320 waiver slots for Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders to the Community Alternatives Program for Disabled Adults.
“We are pleased to share our annual report, which highlights the impact the Medicaid program has on the lives of over 2 million North Carolinians,” said Dave Richard, DHHS Deputy Secretary for Medical Assistance. “The success of our program is grounded in the collaboration with our stakeholder community. We look forward to continued success as we continue our transformation efforts.”
Progress toward the managed care model has provided an opportunity to “create a program that is innovative and highly effective in addressing medical and non-medical drivers of health to improve the health and well-being of North Carolinians,” he said. “We are actively engaged with the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to secure approval of our amended waiver request, and are driving the internal change needed to implement this landmark transformation.”
The report also provides overviews of the most highly-used Medicaid programs and services and includes snapshots of families and individuals and how they benefitted from services provided through Medicaid. It describes how:
- The Community Alternative Program for Children arranged benefits for consumer directed care that allowed a mother to continue to work and her family to remain together;
- The Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) team helped an elderly person get a bed that allowed her to remain at home; and
- The Money Follows the Person program helped a young man stabilize his living situation through the Alternative Family Living Program.
Medicaid plays a vital role in the lives of many North Carolina families, covering more than half the births and more than half the children in North Carolina, meeting the needs of residents with disabilities and providing quality care to thousands of senior citizens.