The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has approved the Medicaid State Plan Amendment (SPA) which the Department of Health and Human Services submitted to provide for new and enhanced services for individuals with mental illness and substance use disorders. These new services are intended to be implemented no later than March 31, 2006. The approval of the new service definitions is a critical milestone in efforts to transform the public mental health, developmental disabilities, and substance abuse services system. Along with the new Community Alternatives Program waiver for individuals with MR/DD (CAP-MR/DD) that was implemented September 1, 2005, these new definitions provide the clinical foundation for transforming the community service array and providing more effective services to consumers. Many of the new definitions represent evidence-based best practices or provide a platform through which evidence-based, emerging and promising practices can be delivered. With the implementation of these new definitions, North Carolina will have services available for adult substance abusers at every level of care outlined in the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) Patient Placement Criteria. The new service array is also designed to improve consumers’ access to services and increase consumers’ choice of provider since all providers of these services will directly enroll in the Medicaid

Medicaid Waiver