Hot-Spotting North Carolina's Big Medicaid Transformation

Researchers looking into North Carolina’s Medicaid program released a case study detailing the poor health outcomes and high-cost Medicaid beneficiaries in Graham County, North Carolina, and paired these stories with policy recommendations to reorient the Medicaid program around patient needs, according to a Health Affairs blog post. Graham County has seen a gradual decay of outpatient care delivery infrastructure, and patients suffer from a lack of providers and lack of transportation, often forcing them to use emergency medical services as primary care or for transportation. Policy recommendations include investing in telehealth, deploying the existing workforce more efficiently, and empowering local officials by providing them with adequate funding for the increased responsibilities they shoulder.