Alliance Health and Cityblock Partner to Bring Innovative Comprehensive Care to Tailored Plan Beneficiaries in North Carolina

Alliance Health has partnered with Cityblock, a value-based healthcare provider for Medicaid and dually eligible beneficiaries, to 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, 2024, and coincides with the state’s ongoing Medicaid transformation efforts. Cityblock has been operating in North Carolina since 2021.

Alliance Health is responsible for ensuring that some of the most vulnerable members of the North Carolina Medicaid system receive timely access to specialized care to address their overall health and well-being. Benefitting from a lengthy history as a behavioral health managed care organization, Alliance Health has developed a network of service providers that delivers an array of community-based and innovative services for individuals with severe and persistent mental illness, substance use disorders, and intellectual and developmental disabilities. As a fully integrated BH I/DD Tailored Plan, Alliance Health has expanded its network to include primary care providers, specialists, ancillary health providers, and pharmacies, and contracts with a number of provider organizations and systems that provide a more comprehensive approach to member care. Alliance Health also makes care management services available to all of its BH I/DD Tailored Plan members, either directly or through contracts with certified provider agencies.

Alliance Health will partner 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.. 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.

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.

“Alliance believes that Cityblock’s treatment approach of providing community-based integrated primary care, behavioral health care, and attention to social supports is an ideal model to address the complex needs of our members,” said Alliance Health Chief Operating Officer Sean Schreiber. “We have been impressed with their desire and commitment to engage and serve our population.”

“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. “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.”

“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. “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.”

Operating on the premise that health is local and personal, Cityblock serves members with complex needs, many of whom are at disproportionately higher risk for poor health outcomes. By offering 24/7 access and care, Cityblock’s multidisciplinary care team helps to reduce unnecessary emergency department visits and avoidable inpatient admissions, while improving quality and member participation in their healthcare. According to its 2024 Equity in Action Report, Cityblock’s care model has shown increased engagement and clinical continuity,  and meaningful reductions in avoidable inpatient admissions – all of which drives outsized impact in helping people live healthier lives.