The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is again delaying the implementation of its Medicaid managed care behavioral health and intellectual/developmental disabilities tailored plans, this time to an undetermined date.
The plans were most recently set to take effect Oct. 1, according to a North Carolina HHS department news release. The department said when it made the decision in February to push the start from April to October that more work was needed to ensure a smooth transition.
The department said it has been working with the state Legislature to secure the tools necessary to administer the tailored plans on par with other managed care plans, but they are still a work in progress.
"Further, uncertainty with the state budget, which will fund transformation costs and rebase for the Medicaid program, creates additional needs for launching tailored plans," the department said in the release. "Because it remains uncertain as to when those issues will be fully resolved, the department is announcing the delay in tailored plans now but is not able to announce a certain go-forward date at this time."
The delay is designed to ensure minimal disruption for the roughly 160,000 eligible beneficiaries set to be in the tailored plans, according to the release.