Challenges to NC Medicaid contracts now over with dismissal

The end of appeals by two insurance providers fighting how North Carolina’s health department decided who would run its new Medicaid managed-care initiative means legal challenges over the awarding of the contracts are over. The Court of Appeals last week agreed to accept the voluntary dismissals by a pair of providers that lost out on contracts awarded in 2019. Four conventional insurers and one physician partnership received the awards to run the program, which began last July. Lawyers wrote that while the appeal remained solid, the group's health system owners didn't want to disturb care for Medicaid recipients during the pandemic.