The Guilford Center partners with CenterPoint Human Services on Medicaid Utilization Review and Screening, Triage and Referrals
The Guilford Center and CenterPoint Human Services have filed a joint letter of intent with the state establishing a four county partnership (Guilford, Davie, Forsyth, Stokes) for the provision of Utilization Review (UR) and after-hours screening, triage, and referral (STR) functions.
In November, Secretary Carmen Hooker-Odom of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) asked Local Management Entities (LMEs) of mental health, developmental disabilities and substance abuse services across the state to recommend and form partnerships with one another for the administrative functions of UR and STR. After considerable negotiation, and with the consumer as the primary concern, this business relationship has been recommended to the Secretary.
The following joint statement has been issued by Billie M. Pierce, Director of The Guilford Center and Betty P. Taylor, Esq., Chief Executive Officer of CenterPoint: “This decision came about after months of discussion and very careful consideration. This partnership is practical due to the geographic contiguity of our counties, as well as, the similarity of our populations and demographics. This collaborative does not affect governance of either agency in any way. It is not a merger; it is a contractual business agreement. We have organized work groups from both organizations to operationalize this agreement, and intend to build a strong collaborative on the UR and STR functions.”
A live unrehearsed STR call, by a consumer, to The Guilford Center was conducted for the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee (LOC), Wednesday, December 14, 2005 at its meeting in Raleigh. The LOC praised the STR service and Senator Nesbitt, Co-Chair of the LOC, stated that it is clear Guilford is knowledgeable of the importance of STR, understands the community resources, and has trained friendly, caring staff.
The purpose of regionalization of UR and STR functions is to achieve economies of scale in accordance with the DHHS LME Cost Efficiency Proposal.