Press Releases

MEDIA ADVISORY — Leaders from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and state legislators will join the NC Council on Developmental Disabilities on Thursday, May 2, for a town hall to discuss key priorities for North Carolinians with intellectual and developmental disabilities, including choice and access to community-based services.

MEDIA ADVISORY — North Carolina Health and Human Services Secretary Kody H. Kinsley will be the keynote speaker at the second annual ‘Why Us Kids?’ rally in Franklin, NC. The event was created by Gracie Parker, an 11-year-old youth mental health activist who shares her lived experience to raise awareness of the ongoing youth mental health crisis and advocate for school-based, trauma-informed support services for students of all ages across the state.

PRESS RELEASE — As part of an ongoing effort to transform North Carolina’s behavioral health crisis response system, the NC Department of Health and Human Services today announced a $22 million investment to expand community crisis centers and peer respite care across the state. This investment will increase North Carolina’s capacity for community-based crisis treatment by 20%, helping to ensure people experiencing a behavioral health crisis have alternative options to emergency departments or community and state psychiatric hospitals when seeking care.

MEDIA ADVISORY — Leaders from the NC Department of Health and Human Services, NC Department of Public Instruction and State Board of Education will join a roundtable with Guilford County Schools on Wednesday, April 24, to discuss the importance of school-based resources in improving physical and behavioral health outcomes for North Carolina children and families. NCDHHS received a historic $835 million to transform behavioral health care in North Carolina, with $80 million specifically focused on children and family well-being. Of that funding, this year, NCDHHS is investing $7 million in services like school-based telehealth to ensure children have better access to behavioral health support and treatment.

PRESS RELEASE — The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) and Disability Rights North Carolina (DRNC) today jointly announce an agreement in the Samantha R. et al. vs. NCDHHS and the State of North Carolina litigation. This development signifies the commitment of both organizations to ensure all North Carolinians with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) have the resources they need to live healthy, independent lives in communities of their choosing.

PRESS RELEASE — Tailored Plans are a new kind of NC Medicaid Managed Care health plan for approximately 210,000 beneficiaries with a serious mental illness, a serious emotional disturbance, a severe substance use disorder, an intellectual/developmental disability or a traumatic brain injury in North Carolina. They will cover doctor visits, prescription drugs and services for mental health, substance use, I/DD and traumatic brain injury in one plan. Eligible North Carolinians who are covered by NC Medicaid Direct will be covered by a Tailored Plan beginning July 1. The name of their Medicaid plan will change but the services covered remain the same. A bilingual toolkit with accessible resources is now available for people impacted by the transition to Tailored Plans.

PRESS RELEASE — As part of an ongoing commitment to improve behavioral health and resilience in North Carolina, the NC Department of Health and Human Services is investing in transforming the state’s behavioral crisis response system to ensure people experiencing a behavioral health emergency have alternatives to emergency departments when seeking the care they need. NCDHHS today announced a two-year plan to invest approximately $15 million in nine behavioral health urgent care centers across North Carolina. This investment will increase the state’s capacity to provide behavioral health urgent care by nearly 50%.

PRESS RELEASE — The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services today published the 2024-25 Olmstead Plan to improve community inclusion for people with disabilities. Designed in partnership with key stakeholders and people with lived experience across the state, the plan advances the work to ensure people with disabilities have the resources they need to live and thrive in the communities of their choice. 

PRESS RELEASE — The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is hosting three resource fairs where adaptive equipment and resources to make recreational and leisure activities accessible to people of all ages will be showcased.

PRESS RELEASE — The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services today announced the launch of Inclusion Connects, a first-of-its-kind initiative in the state to better connect people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families with community-based services which are essential to supporting their health and well-being.

PRESS RELEASE — As sports betting becomes legal in North Carolina, the North Carolina Department of Health Human Services is increasing its efforts to prevent, treat and help those experiencing harms related to problem gambling. This comes as Governor Roy Cooper proclaimed March as Problem Gambling Awareness Month.

PRESS RELEASE — North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper has proclaimed March Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. This marks the 37th anniversary of the Congressional designation of National Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month and acknowledges the nearly 200,000 people living in North Carolina who have intellectual and other developmental disabilities (I/DD). The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and the North Carolina Council on Developmental Disabilities are dedicated to coming together to address societal barriers so individuals can reach their full potential and be fully included in their communities.

PRESS RELEASE — The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services announced today its partnership with CHESS Health and Trillium Health Resources to provide critically needed support for North Carolinians working toward recovery from substance use disorders. Through this partnership, NCDHHS will make available CHESS Health’s proven eRecovery program to help thousands of North Carolinians struggling with substance use disorders to achieve long-term recovery.

PRESS RELEASE — The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is launching a new Statewide Peer Warmline on Feb. 20, 2024. The new Peer Warmline will work in tandem with the North Carolina 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by giving callers the option to speak with a Peer Support Specialist. Peer Support Specialists (or “peers”) are people living in recovery with mental illness and/or substance use disorder who provide support to others who can benefit from their lived experience. A ribbon-cutting ceremony to raise awareness for the new support line will take place on Tuesday at 9 a.m. at the Promise Resource Network respite facility in Charlotte. A media Q&A will immediately follow.

PRESS RELEASE — The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services today released a draft of its 2024-25 Olmstead Plan designed to assist people with disabilities to reside in and experience the full benefit of inclusive communities. The plan is open for public comment through March 7, 2024. NCDHHS encourages all interested individuals and organizations to provide comment on the draft plan. The final, two-year plan will be published in April and implemented in calendar years 2024 and 2025.

PRESS RELEASE — The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is investing $5.5 million into the FIT Wellness program, part of the North Carolina Formerly Incarcerated Transition Program in the UNC School of Medicine, to improve reentry services for the justice-involved population. FIT Wellness delivers psychiatric and physical health care services along with connections to community supports such as housing, transportation and phones for people in the state prison system who have Serious Mental Illness.

PRESS RELEASE — The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services today released the request for proposal to hire the organization that will help manage the Children and Families Specialty Plan. The first-of-its-kind statewide health plan will ensure access to comprehensive physical and behavioral health services for Medicaid-enrolled children, youth and families served by the child welfare system. The CFSP is one initiative among many at work to improve youth behavioral health in North Carolina. 

PRESS RELEASE — As part of its commitment to improve the health and well-being of North Carolina children and families, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services today announced the launch of its Child Behavioral Health dashboard. The information shared through this publicly available tool will help the department as well as behavioral health providers, policymakers and stakeholders to identify and address gaps and disparities in behavioral health services for children.

PRESS RELEASE — The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is committed to developing a more skilled and satisfied caregiver workforce to improve the quality of care and support available to people with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (I/DD) who receive publicly funded home- and community-based services.

PRESS RELEASE — Today, North Carolina leaders released a new report on the state’s caregiving workforce, announcing the next steps in strengthening this critical group of workers. The report comes from the Caregiving Workforce Strategic Leadership Council, a group convened by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and the North Carolina Department of Commerce of leaders from government agencies, educational institutions and other key organizations deeply engaged in health care. The new report offers a roadmap of initiatives the state will take to strengthen and support its health care workforce.