In recollecting 2015, I remember legendary CBS Newsman Walter Cronkite, who closed each evening's newscast by saying,
Published: Thursday, January 7th, 2016 @ 3:38 am
By: Tom Campbell
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A new audit shows that the agency that spent $29 million training blind North Carolinians to operate snack bars had no way of tracking whether the program actually helped those blind operators.
Published: Friday, July 31st, 2015 @ 6:29 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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Director Courtney Cantrell, PhD, of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services' (DHHS) Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services, announced that four Local Management Entities/Managed Care Organizations (LME/MCO) were selected to pilot Critica
Published: Monday, July 6th, 2015 @ 10:06 pm
By: Chris Downey
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North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services' (DHHS) Toxicology Laboratory for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) announced today that it has achieved national accreditation from the American Board of Forensic Toxicology (ABFT). This accomplishment is part of a larger goal...
Published: Tuesday, June 2nd, 2015 @ 5:53 am
By: Chris Downey
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A withering state audit uncovered a pattern of abuses by a division director at the Department of Health and Human Services, unearthing $1.6 million in excessive salaries and wages, rampant nepotism, failure to follow state policies, and continuing lax oversight at the agency.
Published: Sunday, May 17th, 2015 @ 12:51 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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NCTracks, the claims payment system implemented by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services on July 1, 2013, has earned certification by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
Published: Monday, April 13th, 2015 @ 4:45 pm
By: Chris Downey
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Before North Carolina considers Medicaid expansion, it should ensure its existing rolls are not bloated with ineligible recipients, and create a verification system to prevent adding even more unqualified beneficiaries, a national health policy analyst warns.
Published: Monday, February 16th, 2015 @ 6:39 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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N.C. DHHS' Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services (DMH/DD/SAS) has awarded funding to four projects to enhance mental health and substance abuse crisis services. Projects will receive $998,458 each year for the 2014-15 fiscal year and 2015-16 fiscal year.
Published: Tuesday, February 10th, 2015 @ 8:12 pm
By: Chris Downey
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Robin Cummings, M.D., Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Director, received the North Carolina Academy of Family Physicians' (NCAFP) 2014 Presidential Award at its Winter Family Physicians Weekend Conference. Presented by board chair William A. Dennis, M.D., the NCAFP Presidential...
Published: Thursday, January 15th, 2015 @ 9:26 pm
By: Chris Downey
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No matter how good the crystal ball, it is impossible to predict what will happen in 2015. Perhaps it will be easier to identify the people likely to either make or respond to North Carolina news events.
Published: Sunday, January 4th, 2015 @ 12:50 pm
By: Tom Campbell
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If North Carolina doesn't reform its Medicaid delivery system, costs of the government insurance program for the poor and disabled will grow faster than new state revenue, says state Sen. Ralph Hise, R-Mitchell.
Published: Wednesday, December 10th, 2014 @ 1:35 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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Will North Carolina ever reform Medicaid? After more than two years, we aren't much closer to reform solutions today than we were a year ago.
Published: Monday, December 8th, 2014 @ 2:19 pm
By: Tom Campbell
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A subsequent test of a new specimen provided by the patient at Duke University Hospital in Durham has resulted in a confirmed negative laboratory diagnosis for Ebola.
Published: Wednesday, November 5th, 2014 @ 11:05 pm
By: Stan Deatherage
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Education is the campaign focus as the North Carolina House District 118 race heads toward the finish line.
Published: Monday, November 3rd, 2014 @ 6:32 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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DHHS Secretary Aldona Wos announced today that Kendra Gerlach will join the DHHS leadership team as the director of the Office of Communications.
Published: Sunday, November 2nd, 2014 @ 1:49 pm
By: Stan Deatherage
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Secretary Aldona Wos said that the Department of Health and Human Services' (DHHS) Division of Public Health has been working closely with its public health partners and health care providers since July to prepare for the possibility that a patient in North Carolina might be diagnosed with Ebola.
Published: Wednesday, October 8th, 2014 @ 4:41 pm
By: Christopher Maye
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DHHS Secretary Aldona Wos announced today that Courtney Cantrell, Ph.D. will assume the permanent role as the Director of the Division of Mental Health/Developmental Disabilities/Substance Abuse Services (DMH/DD/SAS).
Published: Monday, September 1st, 2014 @ 3:25 pm
By: Christopher Maye
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State Auditor Beth Wood has chided the Department of Health and Human Services for dragging its feet in gaining federal certification for its NCTracks Medicaid information system, an omission that could cost the state $9.6 million a year.
Published: Monday, August 4th, 2014 @ 7:21 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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With $2 billion in cost overruns the past four years, Medicaid continues to be North Carolina’s most volatile political conundrum, and now unanswered questions about its spending and growth threaten to delay passage of 2014-15 state budget adjustments before next Monday’s deadline.
Published: Saturday, June 28th, 2014 @ 11:15 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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Governor Pat McCrory congratulated Buncombe County and Durham County today for being two of six winners of the RWJF Culture of Health Prize awarded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Published: Thursday, June 26th, 2014 @ 5:04 pm
By: Christopher Maye
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Those of us who consider ourselves moderates are following our state's current events with interest and no small measure of amusement.
Published: Wednesday, June 11th, 2014 @ 12:09 am
By: Tom Campbell
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With more than 400,000 people expected to attend the U.S. Open in Pinehurst over the next two weeks, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services is playing a significant role in assuring the health and well-being of visitors.
Published: Tuesday, June 10th, 2014 @ 5:27 pm
By: Stan Deatherage
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Governor Pat McCrory signed an executive order today that creates a multi-agency task force aimed at reducing substance abuse and underage drinking. The Governor's Substance Abuse and Underage Drinking Prevention and Treatment Task Force will build on statewide prevention, treatment and...
Published: Wednesday, May 21st, 2014 @ 8:50 am
By: Chris Downey
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The National Mobile Disaster Hospital that deployed from North Carolina on May 1 to tornado-ravaged Louisville, Miss., opened Monday to patients. The opening was greeted by fanfare and a walk-through by Gov. Philip Bryant and federal, state and local dignitaries.
Published: Tuesday, May 20th, 2014 @ 9:58 pm
By: Stan Deatherage
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Governor Pat McCrory announced that North Carolina's Mobile Disaster Hospital is being sent to Mississippi to provide medical support to a community whose 41-bed hospital, medical clinics and only nursing home was destroyed by the tornadoes on Monday.
Published: Sunday, May 11th, 2014 @ 6:56 am
By: Stan Deatherage
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DHHS Secretary Aldona Wos today announced Robin Gary Cummings, M.D., DHHS Deputy Secretary for Health Services, will assume the duties of Medicaid director. He will continue to serve as acting state health director.
Published: Monday, May 5th, 2014 @ 7:06 am
By: Stan Deatherage
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Accountable care organizations that are the cornerstone of the state's Medicaid reform plan are "HMOs on steroids," one national expert says, and they face certain opposition in the state Senate.
Published: Friday, April 18th, 2014 @ 1:34 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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DHHS Secretary Aldona Wos held a late afternoon conference call with legislators to provide an update on NC FAST regarding the status of compliance with the USDA standards for Food and Nutrition Services (food stamps).
Published: Friday, March 21st, 2014 @ 8:11 pm
By: Stan Deatherage
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Skeptics of the Medicaid reform plan announced in February by the McCrory administration are wary of using a relatively untested framework of what are known as accountable care organizations to administer and deliver Medicaid services.
Published: Wednesday, March 12th, 2014 @ 6:55 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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Politicians don't get to choose the crises they face while in office but they can choose how they will react to them. Their responses often determine both their tenure in office and how history judges them.
Published: Thursday, February 20th, 2014 @ 6:00 pm
By: Stan Deatherage
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DHHS today announced contracts with two leading service firms - Alvarez and Marsal and Navigant Healthcare - to support the Division of Medical Assistance (DMA) as it continues its work to improve and strengthen operations of the North Carolina Medicaid program.
Published: Wednesday, February 12th, 2014 @ 11:58 pm
By: Stan Deatherage
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With just days remaining until the USDA's February 10 deadline, the backlog of FNS cases (food stamps) has dropped by 92.5 percent since January 23.
Published: Friday, February 7th, 2014 @ 10:07 pm
By: Stan Deatherage
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State and county workers across North Carolina have reduced the backlog of FNS cases (food stamps) by just over 72 percent in the last 10 days, ensuring benefits for thousands of families.
Published: Tuesday, February 4th, 2014 @ 12:44 am
By: Stan Deatherage
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Gov. Pat McCrory on Tuesday outlined the goals for his second year in office, which include increasing teacher pay, fast-tracking fracking, and calling on the General Assembly to embrace his wife's top project - enacting puppy mill legislation.
Published: Thursday, January 23rd, 2014 @ 4:41 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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