Alliance Health and Community Partners Win Award for Innovation for MORES Program

Alliance Health and a group of community partners have received a 2023 Innovation Award from the i2i Center for Integrative Health for person-driven initiatives that bring together community stakeholders to promote the inclusion of individuals in their services, supports and local communities. The award recognizes Alliance, Mecklenburg County Child, Family, and Adult Services, SPARC Services and Programs, and Carolina Outreach for its MORES (Mobile Outreach Response Engagement Services) program, implemented in January 2023.

With initial start-up funding from Mecklenburg County, the MORES partnership supports youth and families in crisis to maintain youth in their current living situation and community environment and reduce the need for out-of-home placements, inpatient care and residential interventions. The program provides trauma-informed care and promotes safe behavior at home, in school and in the community. Through targeted interventions, the program reduces the use of emergency departments and detention centers for youth in a behavioral health crisis by helping families access ongoing support services, including intensive clinical and in-home services. As a result, 87% of youth to date who have engaged with the MORES team have been discharged home to their family.

MORES aids youth and families through a team-based service that provides immediate response to a guardian’s call during crisis. The team includes family partners (a parent who has lived experience with a youth in the behavioral health system), clinicians, and qualified mental health professionals. In its first nine months of implementation, MORES received two thirds of its referrals from Alliance Health care managers and community partners such as hospital staff, county DSS staff, and schools, and additional referrals from parents and other stakeholders.

After receiving a referral, the team engages with the youth and family within one hour and when needed for stabilization, maintains contact for up to eight weeks to help the youth and family access in-home clinical supports, link to community supports, reconnect to youth activities such as sports and arts, and access higher levels of care if needed.

“Alliance is grateful for the collaboration to create this tremendous program with our partners to provide immediate crisis response, evidence-based supports, and resources to keep Mecklenburg youth at home and engaged in their community during a difficult time,” said Alliance CEO Rob Robinson.

The award will be presented during the i2i Conference, Delivering on Integration: Optimizing Connections, at the Benton Convention Center in Winston Salem on December 7.

About Alliance Health

Alliance Health is the managed care organization for publicly funded behavioral health care services for the people of Cumberland, Durham, Johnston, Orange and Wake counties in central North Carolina as well as Mecklenburg County. Currently, Alliance works with a large network of private providers to serve the needs of over 120,000 Medicaid eligible people and thousands of uninsured individuals in its six-county service area.

Alliance will begin operating as a Tailored Plan in the coming months as part of North Carolina’s Medicaid transformation. In that role, Alliance will manage all the health care needs – physical, behavioral and pharmaceutical – for individuals with severe mental illnesses, substance use disorders or long-term care needs including intellectual/developmental disability and traumatic brain injury.

About Mecklenburg County Child, Family and Adult Services

Child, Family and Adult Services (CFAS) is one of four departments that make up the Mecklenburg County Health and Human Services Agency. CFAS provides programs and services to children, seniors and disabled adults. Services focused on youth and family include adoption and foster care, childcare services, child protective services and Meck Pre-K.

About SPARC Services and Programs

SPARC Services and Programs is a Charlotte-based organization with a mission to keep people out of expensive institutional care. In addition to the MORES program, it operates services including Family Centered Treatment®, tailored care management, transition management services and community support team.

About Carolina Outreach

With locations in Charlotte and across central North Carolina, the behavioral health professionals at Carolina Outreach are dedicated to promoting the emotional and physical well-being of our community in a safe and respectful environment. They provide a comprehensive and integrative array of behavioral health services and supports for people of all ages with varying levels of need utilizing an equitable and inclusive approach.

About i2i Center for Integrative Health (i2i)

i2i brings together health care leaders to solve the most important issues affecting behavioral, intellectual and developmental disabilities, and primary health care in North Carolina, helping diverse organizations collaborate and resolve critical policy issues.