Press Releases

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services today announced changes to its COVID-19 dashboard and state-funded testing sites as the federal public health emergency comes to an end May 11, 2023, and COVID-19 becomes part of a routine part of public health and health care activities.

Recognizing the role everyone plays in helping North Carolina’s children reach their untapped potential, Governor Roy Cooper declared April as Child Abuse Prevention Month.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, in partnership with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, today released the North Carolina School Behavioral Health Action Plan to address the urgent mental and behavioral health crisis facing youth through key investments in our schools.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services will host a live Cafecito and Spanish-language tele-town hall on Tuesday, March 28, from 6 to 7 p.m. to discuss the importance of managing health with a focus on rural and farmworker communities and available resources across the state.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services will host a live fireside chat and tele-town hall on Thursday, March 23, from 6 to 7 p.m. to discuss the importance of whole person health with a focus on realities in rural communities and available resources across the state.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is cautioning families about certain infant formula that has been recalled by Perrigo for potentially containing a bacteria that can lead to illness in infants.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services today launched an improved QuitlineNC, offering more services and ways for tobacco users to successfully quit smoking or stop using other tobacco products, including vaping and e-cigarettes. Those seeking to quit smoking can now access "Quit Coaches" through live chat or text, watch group videos and create a personalized dashboard to track their quitting progress.

School staff, mental health professionals and the community can learn how to expand support for K-12 students and families experiencing mental and behavioral health issues in a webinar from 10 a.m. to noon, Wednesday, March 15. The webinar is hosted by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and the i2i Center for Integrative Health.

Today, the Military Child Care in Your Neighborhood-PLUS (MCCYN-PLUS) initiative launches in North Carolina to make it easier for military families to access and afford quality child care from community providers. The program is funded and run by the U.S. Department of Defense and critical in our state as North Carolina is home to the fourth largest military presence in the nation.

North Carolina leaders are projecting shortages in direct care workers, nurses and other caregiving positions in the coming decade. At the same time, demand for these services is rising. To address this gap, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and the North Carolina Department of Commerce are leading North Carolina’s new Caregiving Workforce Strategic Leadership Council.

This is a momentous agreement that will directly improve the health and well-being of 600,000 North Carolinians. We applaud the efforts by the General Assembly to move this forward. Medicaid expansion will be transformative for access to health care in rural areas, for better mental health and for veterans, working adults and their families. For these people, today’s agreement is life changing.

Due to a change at the federal level, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services will begin Medicaid beneficiary recertifications that could result in coverage termination or a reduction in benefits.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services today announced it has received approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to operate the Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer (P-EBT) program during the 2022-23 school year.

To ensure nearly 150,000 people seamlessly receive care on day one, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services will delay the implementation of the NC Medicaid Managed Care Behavioral Health and Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities Tailored Plans. The launch was scheduled for April 1 and is now targeted for Oct. 1, 2023.

With overdose deaths in 2021 increasing 22%, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services continues to extend mobile crisis care, treatment programs and other efforts to improve behavioral health services across the state.

Building on its ongoing COVID-19 events, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services will host a live fireside chat and tele-town hall on Wednesday, Feb. 22, from 6 to 7 p.m. to discuss the importance of heart health as well as heart disease prevention and management.

NCDHHS' Black Mountain Neuro-Medical Treatment Center will undergo large-scale renovations in mid-June of this year to increase resident capacity and privacy and upgrade outdated wings.

Babies born in North Carolina will now be screened for two additional disorders, along with the other disorders screened for by the NC Department of Health and Human Services’ Newborn Screening Program. Newborns will now be screened for two Lysosomal Storage Disorders — Mucopolysaccharidosis Type I (MPS I) and Pompe Disease.

NCDHHS is committed to empowering all individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities with the resources they need to live healthy, independent lives in communities of their choosing. That commitment is why we are appealing part of the court order in Samantha R. et al. vs. NCDHHS and the State of North Carolina, which would have put individuals at risk for harm. Today the court issued a stay in the order, temporarily stopping the order while the appeal moves forward.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services today announced a $4 million Preschool Development Grant that will help support children’s health and well-being, improve access to high-quality early care and learning for families across North Carolina, and invest in the state’s early care and learning workforce. NCDHHS will use the federal funding through the end of the year to enhance North Carolina’s Family Child Care Home (FCCH) network. This includes providing access to more professional training, tools to improve classroom curriculum and instruction and more family engagement opportunities for the FCCH workforce. This work will pilot new practices to improve the availability and quality of care for families served by the FCCH network.