The North Carolina Association of Public Community Health Plans, representing North Carolina’s four Local Management Entities/Managed Care Organizations (LME/MCOs), applauds the Governor’s executive order advancing behavioral health and criminal justice system reforms. Further strengthening North Carolina’s behavioral health infrastructure and crisis response system is critical to both individual well-being and community safety.

LME/MCOs play a central role in administering and coordinating the state’s public behavioral health system, particularly for individuals with complex mental health, substance use disorder, intellectual/developmental disability and traumatic brain injury needs. We work directly with members and families and in close partnership with providers, hospitals, law enforcement, courts, and community partners to support crisis response, involuntary commitment processes, and whole-person care.

We are encouraged by the executive order’s focus on strengthening the behavioral health crisis system, including 988 and 911 integration, mobile crisis teams, and improved crisis transport and protocols. We support efforts to ensure long-term sustainability of the crisis system by engaging all payors and aligning incentives across the system. We also look forward to continued collaboration with the General Assembly and the North Carolina Collaboratory to advance thoughtful reforms to the involuntary commitment process. These priorities align closely with the work of LME/MCOs and the shared goal of diverting individuals from emergency departments and the criminal justice system when appropriate and supporting successful community reentry for those who do enter the justice system.

We stand ready to work with the Governor, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, and the General Assembly to translate these priorities into lasting improvements that strengthen the crisis system, improve public safety outcomes, and expand access to effective, person-centered behavioral health care across North Carolina.