North Carolina Reports Early Progress In Medicaid Plan For Foster Children

By Jaymie Baxley 

North Carolina’s caller Medicaid scheme for children successful nan foster attraction strategy has enrolled much than 32,000 young people, and authorities and wellness scheme officials told lawmakers Tuesday they’ve trim nan mean clip to put a child’s placement from 45 days to 16.

The update came during a gathering of nan General Assembly’s Joint Legislative Oversight Committee connected Medicaid, wherever officials from nan N.C. Department of Health and Human Services and Healthy Blue Care Together — nan Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina subsidiary administering nan plan — gave their early advancement study connected nan Children and Families Specialty Plan launched successful December.

The scheme is designed to supply integrated beingness and behavioral wellness sum to children and young adults who are successful foster attraction aliases person antecedently received kid use services. It is intended to switch a patchwork location strategy successful which children were served by section managed attraction organizations whose sum didn’t automatically travel a kid erstwhile they moved crossed region lines.

“There was nary 1 root of wellness attraction for these children,” said Melanie Bush, interim head of NC Medicaid. “Now that we person a statewide plan, Healthy Blue Care Together is capable to negociate their attraction crossed nan full state.”

A ‘digital backpack’ for aesculapian records

Within 24 hours of their enrollment, authorities officials said, every kid covered by nan scheme is assigned a attraction head whose domiciled is to thief families and societal workers find and coordinate services.

“As soon arsenic nan kid enrolls successful nan plan, nan attraction head will scope retired to nan personnel and a complete consequence assessment, which will see a medicine review, is done, and coordination straight pinch their superior attraction supplier occurs,” said Angela Boykin, CEO of Healthy Blue.  “Additionally, nan attraction head will continually measure nan member’s reunification and permanency goals.”

Boykin described nan strategy arsenic giving each kid a benignant of “digital backpack” — a continuously updated grounds of their wellness history, medications and attraction needs that travels pinch them sloppy of wherever they’re placed.

She offered an illustration of what that intends successful practice: a kid moving into foster attraction who needs an asthma inhaler. 

Under nan aged location system, that medicine accusation mightiness not person transferred pinch nan kid if he aliases she moved from their parents’ attraction successful 1 region to nan location of a comparative successful another. Under nan caller plan, Boykin said, nan attraction head ensures nan medicine is fresh astatine nan child’s caller location earlier they arrive.

“It’s not a start-over for nan child,” she said. “It’s not further trauma aliases disorder for nan family that’s involved. [Everything] stays accordant because nan grounds and accusation stays together.”

Michael Leighs, NC DHHS’ lawman caput for opportunity and well-being, framed nan scheme successful nan discourse of a broader push to betterment kid use successful nan state, which besides includes nan PATH NC kid use accusation system, now unrecorded successful 89 counties, and nan Fostering Care Act passed past spring. 

He noted that kinship placements person expanded to astir 1 successful 3 foster attraction arrangements — a fig he attributed successful portion to financial supports for unlicensed kinship providers.

Leighs utilized a hypothetical lawsuit to exemplify what nan scheme tin mean for families: a grandma who mightiness different person said nary to taking successful a grandchild pinch analyzable aesculapian needs tin now opportunity yes because a attraction head is expected to grip coordination.

“For John, this quality is life changing,” Leighs said, utilizing a fictional name. 

“The strategy is moving better,” he contended. 

Smoothing ‘bumps successful nan road’

The scheme is intended not only to thief families, but besides to easiness unit connected region kid use agencies, whose societal workers must already juggle tribunal appearances, placement monitoring and reunification readying alongside health-related tasks.

Nearly 80 percent of nan state’s 100 counties person accepted an connection to person a Healthy Blue attraction head co-located wrong their Department of Social Services office, Boykin said. The scheme besides employs location DSS liaisons who are expected to build relationships pinch section offices.

“Establishing those section relationships is very important,” said Bush, who took complete arsenic interim caput of NC Medicaid aft erstwhile head Jay Ludlam’s departure astatine nan opening of March.

Angela Boykin, CEO of Healthy Blue, astatine nan March 2026 gathering of nan Joint Legislative Oversight Committee connected Medicaid. Credit: NC General Assembly

Still, officials acknowledged that nan plan’s implementation has not been without challenges. 

Early supplier costs problems required nan scheme to rumor hardship payments totaling astir $1.7 cardinal crossed December, January and February, though Bush said nary caller hardship costs requests had travel successful during February aliases March, suggesting nan billing issues whitethorn beryllium resolving.

Care guidance value was besides cited arsenic an area of continued monitoring. Bush said Healthy Blue had responded to early complaints by providing further training and reassigning staff. 

“With each managed attraction launch, location are bumps successful nan roadworthy that we effort to smooth,” she said.

Boykin listed attraction head training and accomplishment improvement arsenic 1 of her apical 3 challenges going forward, alongside building section region relationships and helping caller providers navigate nan plan’s billing requirements.

“The challenges we are trying to lick are not going to beryllium solved overnight,” Boykin said. “It is going to return each of america successful this room and galore others crossed nan authorities moving together to execute nan kid use betterment we request to spot happen.”

For Bush, nan eventual extremity of nan scheme is to guarantee that “children are getting nan screenings and wellness attraction services they request nan infinitesimal they travel into kid use custody.”

The top parameter of nan plan’s success, she added, will beryllium “improved wellness outcomes for those children.”

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