Delivering Non-Medical Services for Medicaid Members through the Access East Healthy Opportunities Pilot.

The Healthy Opportunities Pilot (HOP) is a groundbreaking pilot program that will work in conjunction with the state’s transition to NC Medicaid Managed Care to test and evaluate the use of Medicaid to pay for a select set of evidence-based interventions designed to address non-medical factors that drive health outcomes and costs. North Carolina’s Healthy Opportunities Pilot is the nation’s first comprehensive program to test and evaluate the impact of providing these select evidence-based, non-medical interventions related to housing, food, transportation and interpersonal safety and toxic stress to high-needs Medicaid enrollees.

Access East is 1 of 3 Network Leads on the Pilot, covering the Northeastern North Carolina Region. This region consists of the following 9 counties: Beaufort, Bertie, Chowan, Edgecombe, Halifax, Hertfort, Martin, Northampton and Pitt County. Access East has partnered with Community Based Organizations (CBOs) or Human Service Organizations (HSOs) in each of these counties to provide HOP services.


There are 3 goals DHHS would like to achieve from The Healthy Opportunities Pilot:

Evaluate the effectiveness of select, evidence-based, non-medical interventions and the role of the Healthy Opportunities Network Lead in improving health outcomes and reducing health care costs for high-risk NC Medicaid Managed Care members

Leverage evaluation findings to embed cost-effective interventions that improve health outcomes into the Medicaid program statewide, furthering NCDHHS’ goals for a sustainable Medicaid program.

Support the sustainability of delivering non-medical services identified as effective through the evaluation, including by strengthening capabilities of HSOs and partnerships with health care payers and providers