Alliance Health, a managed care organization responsible for approximately 135,000 Medicaid-eligible members across North Carolina, announced a partnership with Cityblock, a value-based healthcare provider for Medicaid and dually eligible beneficiaries. Through this partnership, Cityblock will provide comprehensive, integrated medical and behavioral health care to members with serious mental illness and/or substance use disorder enrolled in Alliance Health’s Behavioral Health and Intellectual/Development Disability (BH I/DD) Tailored Plan. 

The partnership launched in Mecklenburg, Cumberland and Wake counties on July 1 and coincides with the state’s ongoing Medicaid transformation efforts. Cityblock has been operating in North Carolina since 2021 and currently has community clinics in Charlotte, Fayetteville, High Point, Greensboro and Winston-Salem.

Alliance Health is partnering with Cityblock to provide eligible members access to Cityblock’s primary care and behavioral health care services across modalities, where members will have the option to see their care team virtually, in their homes or at existing Cityblock clinics in Charlotte and Fayetteville. Cityblock’s care model connects enrolled and eligible members to a multidisciplinary care team that includes primary care providers, behavioral health specialists, community health partners, nurse care managers, pharmacy navigators and more.

“Access to integrated care for people with behavioral health needs is critical to the NCDHHS priority of behavioral health and resilience. People have better outcomes when we treat the mind and body – the whole person,” said Kelly Crosbie, Director, Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Use Services, NC Department of Health and Human Services, in a press release. “NCDHHS applauds Alliance and Cityblock’s leadership in tailoring this innovative model to address the whole-person needs of people with behavioral and substance use disorder needs.”

Alliance Health and Cityblock have engaged in a value-based arrangement – Alliance Health’s first shared risk arrangement – creating strong alignment towards a common goal of delivering higher quality health care and outcomes for members. This care structure allows care teams the flexibility to intervene and invest in dynamic strategies to meet members’ complex clinical and non-clinical needs. Alliance Health and Cityblock’s value-based partnership will help increase access to unique, integrated care for the most vulnerable members, close gaps in health equity and drive sustainable value.

“We share North Carolina and Alliance Health’s longstanding commitment to providing innovative, high-quality care to members with complex behavioral health needs,” said Dr. Toyin Ajayi, CEO and cofounder of Cityblock, in a press release. “Together, and on the heels of North Carolina’s groundbreaking transition to Medicaid managed care, we will deploy care to treat individuals holistically and reduce health disparities, and we look forward to delivering clinical and financial outcomes for marginalized and underserved communities throughout the state.”