The Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services released its first-ever Medicaid Scorecard intended to advance a longer-term goal to improve understanding of Medicaid performance nationally. The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services supports this effort and looks forward to working with CMS to improve the accuracy and comparability of the measures.
“North Carolina has a strong commitment to quality and sees the report card as another tool to advance our efforts to improve the Medicaid program,” said Dave Richard, Deputy Secretary for Medical Assistance.
North Carolina ranks high across multiple child and adult health measures, scoring in the top third for children’s access to primary care, well child visits and immunizations.
In adult health measures, North Carolina scored in the top tier of states for managing adults on persistent medications and monitoring individuals on antipsychotic medications. Strong performance in these areas reflect the effort and work North Carolina has invested in pediatric preventive care and chronic disease management in adults.
North Carolina still has work to do to improve other key health performance indicators, including timeliness of prenatal and postpartum care, low birth weight, preventive health measures for women, and timely access and follow-up to mental health services.
The CMS Medicaid Scorecard has been released as North Carolina is designing the program, operations and reporting to transform the Medicaid and NC Health Choice programs from a predominantly fee-for-service delivery system to managed care.
“In partnership with our provider community, health plans and other partners, the department is using the transition to managed care to drive value — the best health outcomes and quality for the dollars we are spending — in the Medicaid program,” said DHHS Secretary Mandy Cohen, M.D. “Through an aggressive quality strategy, expanded care coordination activities and a focus on prevention and the underlying drivers of health, North Carolina is committed to improvement and innovation.”
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