North Carolina Puts CenterPoint-Cardinal Merger On Hold Pending Clarifications Of State’s Medicaid Plans

On October 23, 2015, the Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) said DHHS would delay approving consolidations of the state’s public behavioral health local management entities/managed care organizations (LME/MCOs) until DHHS submits its plan on how it will implement Medicaid reform. The DHHS announcement delay means that a planned merger between of LME/MCOs CenterPoint and Cardinal Innovations Healthcare Services will not move forward as planned scheduled because DHHS approval is required for any MCO merger.

On October 22, 2015 , the CenterPoint Human Services board of directors had unanimously approved a . . .