Vaya Health (Smoky Mountain Center)

2019 Health & Human Services Budget – House & Senate

June 24, 2019 by Rose Hoban

2019 Health & Human Services Budget – House & Senate - North Carolina Health News

Just in time for the conference committee budget, here are how the Senate and the House of Representatives each proposed to spend on health and human services.

By Rose Hoban After 2018’s unusual budget process this year’s budget has unfolded in a more “traditional” way. The House unveiled it’s proposal to spend $5.569 billion on health and human services priorities in early May. The Senate finished it’s work on the budget in early June, asking for a total appropriation of $5.552 billion […]

an older woman holds up a folded over document and looks off camera as others look at her.

State Budget’s Potential Winners and Losers Were A Mystery Before This Week

May 30, 2018 by Rose Hoban

State Budget’s Potential Winners and Losers Were A Mystery Before This Week - North Carolina Health News

Usually, legislators create a draft budget that’s subject to changes and tweaks. But this year, members of the Republican majority crafted a final budget that will receive an up or down vote later this week.

By Rose Hoban Lobbyists, health care advocates and lawmakers alike spent much of Tuesday poring through hundreds of pages of legal language after the Republican majority members of the General Assembly posted their proposed $23.9 billion state budget online late Monday night. Members of the Democratic minority criticized Republicans for this year’s unorthodox bill drafting […]

Waynesville Police Chief Bill Hollingsed takes a proactive approach to opioid addiction and overdose in his community.

Opioid Epidemic Inundating Public Health, Foster Care Systems

May 16, 2018 by Carolina Public Press

Opioid Epidemic Inundating Public Health, Foster Care Systems - North Carolina Health News

A forum in western North Carolina last week examined the effects of the ongoing addiction and overdose crisis in that part of the state.

By Michael Gebelein Carolina Public Press If you think the “opioid crisis” has been overhyped, consideration of the facts discussed at a forum on opioid issues in Asheville last week may change your mind. Deaths from drug overdoses in North Carolina surpassed deaths from motor vehicles accidents for the first time in 2010. Emergency room […]

Audit Finds High Salaries, Generous Severance for Mental Health Executives

October 3, 2017 by Rose Hoban

Audit Finds High Salaries, Generous Severance for Mental Health Executives - North Carolina Health News

A new report details juicy salaries paid to some top employees of Cardinal Innovations, one of the state’s mental health management organizations.

By Rose Hoban A new report from the state Department of Health and Human Services finds salaries, bonuses and severance packages for top executives at one of the state’s mental health managed care organizations are “excessive” and out of compliance with state guidance. The DHHS Internal Auditor report follows a scathing May report by the […]

Local Municipalities Feel Effects of Mental Health Cuts

September 5, 2017 by Thomas Goldsmith

Local Municipalities Feel Effects of Mental Health Cuts - North Carolina Health News

Wake County commissioners heard about how cuts to mental health funding at the legislature will have effects in the Triangle.

By Thomas Goldsmith Like many hospitals across the state, emergency departments in the Triangle continue to deal with large numbers of patients who have been involuntarily committed and have no place else to go. But in counties around Raleigh there’s a twist to the longstanding problem — state cuts that put a halt to the […]

photo shows NC House Speaker Tim Moore takling to media surrounded by repoters and cameras on Aug 3, 2018

Most Mental Health Management Organizations to See Additional Trim

August 4, 2017 by Rose Hoban

Most Mental Health Management Organizations to See Additional Trim - North Carolina Health News

Lawmakers were alerted there was a miscalculation in how they tabulated cuts made in June's state budget. As a result, most agencies saw their cuts increase.

By Rose Hoban Even as North Carolina’s mental health management organizations are adjusting to cuts to their budgets ordered in this year’s state budget, most of the organizations experienced another trim Thursday. That was the day that legislators came back to Raleigh for what was originally billed as a one-day session to override gubernatorial vetoes. […]

LME MCO map, with Cardinal looming large

State Mental Health Cuts Start to Eliminate Services

July 11, 2017 by Rose Hoban

State Mental Health Cuts Start to Eliminate Services - North Carolina Health News

Leaders at the state’s mental health agencies take a hard look at their books as their state dollars get cut for the third year running.

By Rose Hoban Just hours after the final gavel fell on the the North Carolina General Assembly’s long work session on June 30, an email landed in the boxes of reporters: Alliance Behavioral Healthcare announced it was cutting back on vital mental health services it had promised to create in Wake County and other parts […]

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