Using the Affordable Care Act to strengthen population health: North Carolina experience

In order to implement the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in North Carolina, the North Carolina Department of Insurance and the Department of Health and Human Services asked the North Carolina Institute of Medicine to convene workgroups to examine the law and gather stakeholder input to ensure decisions the state makes in implementing the law serves the best interest of the state as a whole. Eight workgroups focus on different components of the ACA including prevention, new models of care, Medicaid, quality, the health care safety net, the health benefits exchange and insurance oversight, the health professional workforce, and fraud and abuse. This broad-based collaborative process has included more than 260 individuals from across the state. North Carolina is identifying opportunities under the ACA to implement the state's previously established Prevention Action Plan and to strengthen state and local collaborations to implement evidence-based prevention strategies. The workgroups have also developed new strategies to strengthen prevention and population health improvement efforts within North Carolina's nationally recognized patient- centered medical home program—Community Care of North Carolina.