North Carolina Launches State Transformation Collaborative

For Immediate Release

North Carolina Launches State Transformation Collaborative

State-wide Public-Private Partnership Aims to Improve Health Care for North Carolinians

DURHAM, N.C., February 2, 2023—A new, state-based initiative launched today aims to transform North Carolina’s health care delivery system and improve the health of all North Carolinians. The State Transformation Collaborative (NC STC) will work to align public and private stakeholders across the state on strategies for the NC health system focused on rewarding better health outcomes, integrating physical and behavioral health, and investing in non-medical interventions aimed at reducing costs.

The leaders of the NC STC are the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Division of Health Benefits, the Health Care Payment Learning & Action Network (LAN), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy.

“This model allows us to address multiple issues, integrating behavioral health into improved primary care, and we will do so in a way that narrows gaps in access that have become part of our health care system,” said NCDHHS Secretary Kody H. Kinsley. “I know this partnership will deliver outcomes that transform the health and well-being of all North Carolinians.”

North Carolina was selected with California, Colorado, and Arkansas to be an STC, operated by the LAN and supported by CMS through a public-private collaboration to advance health care reform. The STC enables greater federal engagement in state-based efforts to accelerate a value-based, person-centered approach to health, with payments focused on improving peoples’ health versus traditional “fee-for-service.”

“The State Transformation Collaborative will bring together diverse perspectives to figure out how health care providers and their patients can participate in innovative approaches to improve health care and make it more affordable. These efforts will impact not only those covered by North Carolina Medicaid, but also populations covered by Medicare and private insurers—all with the goal of improving health across the state,” said Mark McClellan, director, Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy and Co-chair of the Health Care Payment Learning & Action Network. “To get where we need to go, we can take steps together to improve our data infrastructure, adopt what works, and measure our progress.”

The NC STC shared its initial roadmap to advance health for all North Carolinians that includes four key strategies: strengthening primary care, aligning quality measures, enhancing health equity data, and improving data infrastructure. The figure below provides additional detail on the NC STC framework.

Informed by the LAN’s strategic initiatives, the next steps for the NC STC are to identify three or more priority areas for focused effort over the six to 12 months that will set the foundation for its longer-term goals. Important short-term actions will include technical work to apply evidence and experience to assess and identify measures of quality, administrative components, and data that have the potential to improve the impact of value-based health care. In addition, the NC STC will continue to bring stakeholders across the state together to inform practical, concrete steps toward alignment and action on payment and delivery reforms.

About the NC State Transformation Collaborative

The State Transformation Collaborative (STC) is a public-private partnership designed to accelerate the shift away from fee-for-service to a value-based, person-centered approach to health through alignment among Medicaid, Medicare, Medicare Advantage, and commercial payers and purchasers in selected states. Through multi-stakeholder collaboration, North Carolina’s STC provides a unique opportunity to simultaneously improve population health, support uptake of value-based care by reducing administrative burden on health care providers, and advance health equity. Learn more here: https://healthpolicy.duke.edu/ncstc

For more information, contact Patricia Green with the Duke-Margolis at patricia.s.green@duke.edu or the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services at news@dhhs.nc.gov.

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