North Carolina’s Mecklenburg County Transfers Mental Health Management To Cardinal Innovations

On April 1, 2014, Cardinal Innovations Healthcare Solutions began managing Medicaid funding for mental health, intellectual and developmental disabilities, and substance use/addiction services in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. Previously MeckLINK Behavioral Healthcare, a division of the county government, directly managed the funding and provider network delivering the services. State legislation that became effective on March 31, 2014, required counties that directly managed publicly funded behavioral health services through an independent managed care organization (MCO) to create or merge with an independent mental health authority to manage the services. Mecklenburg was the only county affected by the legislation. In September . . .