The North Carolina Medical Society (NCMS) www.ncmedsoc.org working in conjunction with the North Carolina Community Health Center Association (NCCHCA) www.ncchca.org, and Centene Corporation www.centene.com. They recently signed an agreement to collaborate on a patient-focused approach to Medicaid under the reform plan enacted in North Carolina.
Under the agreement, the organization will create a joint venture to be called “Carolina Complete Health” www.carolinacompletehealth.com to establish, organize, and operate a physician-led health plan to provide Medicaid managed care services in North Carolina.
The partnership is going to try to engage all North Carolina physicians including those in primary care specialties like pediatrics, family medicine, and obstetrics and gynecology, as well as hospital-based physicians and a wide diversity of specialties and sub-specialties to serve the state Medicaid population.
A key feature of the joint venture will be the active participation of physicians in the ownership and governance of the physician directed health plan. Centene will manage the financial and daily operations.
The Carolina Complete Health Network is going to be owned jointly by NCMS, physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners. FQHCs, will provide medical management services, hold a majority on the Board of Directors, and oversee the medical policies for the health plan.