CMARC (Care Management for At-Risk Children)

CMARC (Care Management for At-Risk Children)

This NC Medicaid program is administered by local health departments.

With most patients ages 0-5 whose families are referred to Access East for care-management services, we work with the health departments in the county where those young patients live, for evaluation of whether those children should be enrolled in the no-cost CMARC program.

Children from birth to age 5 are eligible for CMARC if they:

    • Have long-term medical conditions
    • Are dealing with challenging levels of physical or emotional stress
    • Are referred by their own doctors

If an eligible child is referred to CMARC, then a CMARC care manager will talk to the child’s family about the benefits of the CMARC program, which is designed to link families to community and other services that can help improve a child’s care.

If a child is then enrolled in CMARC, the CMARC care manager will work with the child’s family to create a plan of care that can include:

    • Visits to the child’s home
    • Phone calls from the care manager
    • Doctors’ visits
    • Other appropriate types of contact with the child and his or her family

CMARC care management can provide such potential benefits as:

    • Helping a family find and establish a regular doctor, or “medical home,” for their child
    • Making sure the child is getting the healthcare service he or she needs
    • Helping families who are dealing with high levels of stress that may be hurting the child’s health
    • Helping families in understanding different areas of children’s health and development

If the health departments determine any of those pediatric patients are at particularly high-risk from medical conditions, those children should be referred back to Access East for the more complex care management that’s required.