Cityblock Health teams up with Blue Cross NC to serve Medicaid, MA patients in North Carolina

Cityblock Health is teaming with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina to provide care to Medicaid and Medicare Advantage members in the state.

The collaboration, which launched July 1, includes five new clinics across the state that are available to Blue Cross NC's Standard Plan and MA members in Charlotte, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, High Point and Fayetteville, Cityblock announced.

Cityblock's care model addresses patients' physical, behavioral and social health needs in one integrated approach through its multidisciplinary care teams, which include primary care providers, behavioral health specialists, pharmacists, nurse care managers and others.

"We find that members really value that and appreciate that it is just one care team, including social care," Joe Leinbach, general manager of new markets at Cityblock, told Fierce Healthcare.

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Leinbach said he has been on the ground working on the launch of the new clinics, and so far more than 300 people have received care either in person or virtually. He said there were patients visiting each location on the first day, even though notices had just gone out to eligible members.

Managed care approaches like this are new to North Carolina's Medicaid program, as the state just this year completed a lengthy transformation process with the model. 

He said Cityblock aimed to build the locations in areas that might otherwise lack easy access to healthcare services.

"We particularly put our clinics, our locations, in the places where we feel like there is not enough access to primary care, so we were excited to have folks coming to see us right away," Leinbach said.

Cityblock and Blue Cross NC are continuing to reach out to members about the potential services they can receive at the new clinics.