S.L. 2013-397 (Senate Bill 553) Summary

• Establishes grievance and appeal procedures for Local Management Entity/Managed Care Organization (LME/MCO) Medicaid enrollees through new Chapter 108D, including internal LME/MCO appeals, expedited appeals, and contested case hearings at the Office of Administrative Hearings.

• Creates the North Carolina Supportive Housing Program to transition individuals with serious mental illness from institutional settings to community-based supported housing, with housing slots allocated to LME/MCOs and one-time transition stability payments up to $2,000 per individual.

• Establishes the Community Living Housing Fund within the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency to increase targeted housing units for individuals with disabilities from 10% to 15% in Low Income Housing Tax Credit developments for use in the supportive housing program.

• Allocates funds appropriated to the Department of Health and Human Services for the 2013-2015 biennium: $1.7 million (FY 2013-14) and $3.1 million (FY 2014-15) for the supportive housing program, $1.4-1.5 million annually for program administration, and $650,000-1.2 million annually for transition stability payments.

• Modifies the state's share allocation in the Hospital Provider Assessment tax, designating the first $43 million to be split between equity and UPL assessments, with remaining portions allocated to the UPL assessment.