House Bill 144 Summary

• Authorizes the Department of Health and Human Services to procure a single statewide Children and Families (CAF) specialty plan as an additional Medicaid managed care option with services beginning no later than December 1, 2023.

• The CAF specialty plan is a closed network covering intensive in-home services, multisystemic therapy, residential treatment services, and services in private residential treatment facilities, while excluding Innovations waiver, Traumatic Brain Injury waiver, and intermediate care facility services.

• Establishes automatic enrollment for recipients described in G.S. 108D-40(a)(14) (children in foster care, receiving adoption assistance, or former foster youth under age 26) into the CAF specialty plan unless also eligible for other options, with restrictions on switching to standard or behavioral health plans without demonstrating best interest of the child.

• Requires the CAF specialty plan entity to provide whole-person integrated care coordination across healthcare and child welfare settings to support family preservation, reunification, and permanency goals for enrolled children and families.

• Allows an area authority to operate the CAF specialty plan statewide with a prohibition on county withdrawal from the statewide catchment area.