The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services launched its COVID-19 Support Services Program in August 2020 to address multiple pandemic-related social needs in counties with COVID-19 hot spots in four target regions of the state. Lessons from the COVID-19 Support Services Program can inform other states’ and payers’ efforts to address social needs, as well as North Carolina’s soon-to-launch $650 million Healthy Opportunities Pilots, which will pay for and provide social services through Medicaid managed care programs. To study the COVID-19 Support Services Program, we interviewed its administrators and frontline providers across the program’s service regions and partnered with one of the program’s largest grantee organizations to analyze survey data.

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Researcher

Robert S. Saunders, Ph.D.

Research Director, Payment and Delivery Reform - Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy at Duke University

Robert S. Saunders, Ph.D., is Research Director, Payment and Delivery Reform at the Duke-Margolis Center for H... Read Bio

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Researcher

William K. Bleser, Ph.D., M.S.P.H.

Managing Associate, Payment Reform and Population Health

William K. Bleser, Ph.D., M.S.P.H., is Managing Associate, Payment Reform and Population Health at the Duke-Ma... Read Bio