Newsletter Articles

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.
N.C. Public Health Division Director Danny Staley laid out a roadmap to a new strategic service model for public health, known as Public Health 3.0, at this year's North Carolina Health Leaders' Conference in Raleigh.
The state's pre-kindergarten program, which is administered by DHHS, will expand by 1,800 additional 4-year-olds this year, bringing the total number of children enrolled in NC Pre-K to more than 28,000.
Donation bins are available in all state government buildings in Raleigh, businesses that partner with the N.C. Business Committee on Education, and all State Employee Credit Union branch buildings.

The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) recently announced strengthened contracts with Local Management Care Entities/Managed Care Organizations (LME/MCOs) seeking improved outcomes for mental health, developmental disabilities and substance use disorder services.

Nearly 7,000 drug overdoses have been reversed in North Carolina since August 2013, thanks to an antidote for opioid overdoses called naloxone.
NCDHHS staff are mobilizing across divisions to make progress on North Carolina's Early Childhood Action Plan. Department leaders recently spent two days working in cross-sector teams to strategize and make plans to leverage and align work in three priority areas for 2020.
Lawrence Holliday, an employee at DHHS' Disability Determination Services, recently appeared on an episode of "Wheel of Fortune." It aired in the Triangle on Nov. 14. Holliday shared how he became a contestant on the game show and what the experience was like.
DHHS held its first-ever Native American Heritage Month event on Nov. 20 featuring members of the Lumbee tribe from Robeson County who were dressed in full regalia and provided native singing, dancing and storytelling.
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services celebrated Antibiotic Awareness Week by announcing the winners of the “Be Antibiotics Aware: Smart Use, Best Care Campaign' poster contest.

North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Mandy Cohen, MD, is the keynote speaker next week at the National Academy of Medicine’s (NAM) health care symposium Nov. 21–22, 2019 at the North Carolina Biotechnology Center in Durham. 

Officials from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and the NC Department of Public Safety participated with federal, state and local partners in a multi-state Ebola virus disease emergency preparedness exercise Nov. 4–8, 2019. 

A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine examines the potential for integrating services addressing social needs and the social determinants of health into the delivery of health care to achieve better health outcomes and to address major challenges facing the U.S. health care system.

The Office of Rural Health's North Carolina Farmworker Health Program (NCFHP) recently celebrated over 25 years of collaboration.
Dr. Susan Kansagra Selected as President-elect of National Association of Chronic Disease Directors; DHHS Employee Competed in Singing Contest; Wilson County DSS Honored for Child Welfare Work; NC Medicaid's Pharmacy Director Featured in Video Series; DHHS Works with DIT to Address Broadband and Health in Rural Areas; Medicaid Team Provides Cookies for Ronald McDonald House; Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities presented "Be-yond Black and White 2: A Discussion on LatinX Health and Engagement in North Carolina".