Press Releases

The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services submitted its Behavioral Health Strategic Plan to the NC General Assembly, providing an informed vision for the future of North Carolina’s behavioral health system.

Today at the Cardinal Innovations Board meeting in Winston-Salem, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services transitioned leadership and governance of the organization to the new board and to the Cardinal Innovations executive leadership team.

The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services today announced that the newly appointed board for Cardinal Innovations will meet to hold its first official board meeting this weekend. The new board will convene on Friday evening, Jan. 26, for another training session and will come into session for its first official board meeting on Saturday, Jan. 27. At this board meeting, DHHS intends to transition leadership and governance of the organization to the new board and the Cardinal Innovations executive leadership team.

Governor Roy Cooper today announced the next wave of funding to combat the opioid crisis from the 21st Century Cures Act/State Targeted Response to the Opioid Crisis Grant that North Carolina received in May 2017. Since May, 3,200 individuals have benefited from these programs, and the funds announced today are expected to treat an additional 3,300 North Carolinians with an opioid use disorder.

The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services is reporting the state's first child death from flu for the 2017-18 flu season. A child in the central part of the state died last week from complications associated with influenza infection. To protect the family's privacy, the child's hometown, county and gender are not being released.

Governor Roy Cooper issued a proclamation recognizing Dec. 1 as World AIDS Day in North Carolina and the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services' Division of Public Health joins in this observance. World AIDS Day renews opportunities for health service agencies to collaborate with partners, raise awareness about HIV and move closer to an AIDS-free generation.

Since arriving on site on Nov. 27, DHHS staff discovered documents that raise serious concerns about proposed financial activities by former board leadership and former CEO. Based on this information, DHHS filed and was granted a temporary restraining order in Mecklenburg County to ensure that former board members and the former CEO have no access to Cardinal's funds. DHHS has taken a variety of administrative actions related to the financial management of the organization; in addition to those activities we are pursuing this litigation out of an abundance of caution in the protection of taxpayer dollars.

The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services is accepting applications for the state's Low-Income Energy Assistance Program beginning Friday.

Effective immediately, the N.C Department of Health and Human Services has temporarily assumed leadership of Cardinal Innovations, an LME-MCO authorized under state law to provide essential behavioral services using public funds.

The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services is notifying the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights and affected individuals of a recent incident in which a spreadsheet containing personal information was sent in error to a vendor in an unencrypted email.

DHHS has released two documents related to our investigation of Cardinal Innovations. First, as required by state law, DHHS Office of Internal Audit has conducted a six-month Follow-Up Assessment based on the Office of State Audit report that was released in May 2017. Second, DHHS Office of Internal Audit has provided an additional interim report to DHHS leadership associated with a site visit it conducted at Cardinal Innovations on October 30.

The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services today submitted to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services an amendment to the 1115 Demonstration Waiver application originally submitted by North Carolina in 2016. Submitting this amended waiver application is an important next step in implementing the Proposed Program Design for Medicaid Managed Care that DHHS published in August.

DHHS today released “Behavioral Health and Intellectual/Developmental Disability Tailored Plan,' the first in a series of Medicaid managed care program concept papers. These concept papers, which DHHS will continue to release over the next several months, provide details on certain components of the managed care program design. DHHS invites stakeholders to provide input by sending an email to Medicaid.Transformation@dhhs.nc.gov. Visit the DHHS Medicaid Transformation website at ncdhhs.gov/nc-medicaid-transformation for more on the North Carolina Medicaid transition to managed care.

The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services today announced the state's first flu-related deaths of the 2017-18 season after two adults died of complications from influenza infection from mid-to-late October. One of the deaths occurred in the Piedmont region of North Carolina, and the other occurred in the eastern region of the state.

The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services today asked health care providers, health plans and other stakeholders to provide information that will help the department transform the state Medicaid and NC Health Choice programs to managed care, as directed by the General Assembly in 2015.

N.C. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Mandy Cohen, M.D., got her flu shot Thursday and encouraged others to get vaccinated, too, with the flu season underway.

Rowan County EMS' Daniel Medina and Aaron Thurston claimed top honors following the 27th Annual Paramedic Competition, held at the Koury Convention Center during the annual Emergency Medicine Today Conference.

Statement from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services on its audit of Cardinal Innovations Healthcare Solutions: After the Office of the State Auditor found unreasonable spending by Cardinal Innovations Healthcare Solutions, DHHS sent auditors to conduct a detailed examination and determined that in addition to the excessive salary for the CEO, several employees have severance allowances that may stretch to 36 months. This is excessive and raises concerns about the entity's solvency and ability to continue to provide services in the event of a significant change in its leadership team. Cardinal should immediately bring its salary/compensation package for its CEO in line with the other LME/MCOs, and shed its excessive severance offerings. DHHS will continue to monitor Cardinal's performance.

The N.C. Department of Health Human Services' Division of Social Services collaborated with the Office of State Budget and Management, which today released a request for proposal seeking a qualified vendor to conduct assessments of the state's current social services and child welfare programs and develop a comprehensive plan for reform. Proposals are due Nov. 16, and a contract will be in place by March 1, 2018.

The percentage of North Carolina adults who reported smoking cigarettes in 2016 is the lowest ever recorded, 17.9 percent. Despite this milestone, North Carolina's smoking rate remains slightly higher than the national rate of 17.1 percent, and smoking continues to be the leading preventable cause of death in our state.