House committee substitute makes the following changes to the 4th edition.

Part II

Adds the following.

Directs the State Controller to transfer $26.4 million in nonrecurring funds for the 2020-21 fiscal year from the Medicaid Transformation Reserve to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Division of Central Management and Support, for operations and maintenance expenses for the NC Families Accessing Services Through Technology (NC FAST) system and investment in infrastructure modernization, document management, and other critical NC FAST projects.

Adds a new directive requiring the Division of Central Management to report any change in federal funding or federal match rates within 30 days after the change to the specified NCGA committees and division.

Makes a technical change.

Maintains the Part's effective date of July 1, 2020.

Part III

Makes organizational and clarifying changes.

Adds the following.

Directs the State Controller to transfer $20 million in nonrecurring funds for the 2020-21 fiscal year from the Coronavirus Relief Reserve to the Coronavirus Relief Fund (both established in SL 2020-4). Appropriates the transferred funds to the Office of State Budget and Management (OSBM) for 2020-21 to be allocated to DHHS, Division of Child Development and Early Education, for early childhood initiatives to assist in mitigating the financial impact due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Amends Section 3.3 of SL 2020-4, increasing the allocation OSBM must make to DHHS from $25 million to $100 million to expand public and private initiatives for COVID-19 testing, contact tracing, and trends tracking and analysis. Adds to the nonexclusive list of uses (1) periodic COVID-19 testing for surveillance and occupational safety, particularly but not exclusively with respect to long-term staff working in congregate living settings and historically underserved or at-risk populations and (2) hiring temporary staff to augment contact tracing functions performed by local health departments, particularly those serving historically underserved or at-risk populations.

Part VI

Eliminates the previous provisions of Part VI which required county departments of social services to take specified actions regarding redetermination of Medicaid eligibility within 60 days of the nationwide declaration of a public health emergency. Replaces the provisions with the following.

Directs county departments to: (1) resume Medicaid eligibility determinations for beneficiaries whose annual or periodic renewal of eligibility is due on or after September 1, 2020; (2) resume requesting post-eligibility verification information for applications received on or after September 1, 2020; (3) make a good faith effort to redetermine Medicaid eligibility for beneficiaries who were due for an annual or periodic renewal of eligibility prior to September 1, 2020, but for whom recertification did not occur; and (4) make a good faith effort to request post-eligibility verification information for applications received prior to September 1, 2020, for which post-eligibility verifications have not been requested. 

Prohibits county departments from terminating benefits for a Medicaid beneficiary if doing so would result in the State being ineligible for the increased Medicaid funding under specified federal law, but requires such cases to be identified in the NC FAST system by July 31, 2020. Requires notices of termination for such identified cases within 90 days after the expiration of the nationwide declared public health emergency.

Provides that county authority to comply with a court order or settlement agreement are not affected.

Adds that the provisions apply to any federally recognized Native American tribe that has assumed responsibility for the Medicaid program.

Part VII

Eliminates the proposed directive requiring the Division of Health Benefits to make specified monthly payments to prepaid health plans if the required Medicaid capitated payments do not begin by July 1, 2021. 

Now directs DHHS to amend the statewide and regional standard benefit plan prepaid health plan capitated contracts awarded as of June 1, 2020, so that the contract covers four-year terms rather than three-year terms, with the option to extend the contract for up to one successive contract year or a shorter period as required by DHHS. Provides that if any prepaid health plan declines this contract amendment in writing, then the contract amendment cannot be required and the contract terms remain in effect as of June 1, 2020, until and unless amended by a future agreement.

Changes the act's long title.