Petition to Gov Perdue and the North Carolina Division of Medical Assistance (DMA) to supply Medicaid Provider organizations the Mental Health Outpatient (OPT) authorizations (visits remaining) status for consumers that are in treatment with the Provider organization.  

Consumers are granted 26 unmanaged OPT visits for children and 8 unmanaged visits for adults. However the Provider organizations are unable to predetermine the visits remaining until the Provider submits a claim and the claim is paid or denied. When accepting a new consumer the Provider does not know if the consumer is eligible for services. 

Provider organizations are forced to unnecessarily write off ten of thousands of unreimbursed services each year needlessly. This has forced several independent Medicaid Providers to stop accepting Medicaid patients, weakened the provider network and denied access to services.