Lessons Learned from North Carolina’s MCPAR Reports

Executive Summary

States must submit Medicaid Managed Care Program Annual Reports (MCPARs) annually for each of their managed care programs. Examining the MCPARs for one state, North Carolina, reveals how the role and structure of MCPARs as oversight tools are helpful, but there are also ways to make them more useful to advocates. This evaluation of North Carolina’s MCPARs also looks at the connection between the reports and the types of sanctions that can be, and were, imposed on the state’s Medicaid managed care organizations (MCOs). It also examines how those sanctions are reported in the MCPAR and offers actionable recommendations to strengthen oversight and accountability where the MCPARs fall short.