WEST END — The Sandhills Center has performed better than its peer organizations in a number of different categories for the fourth straight year, according to the results of a survey released this month commissioned by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.
The annual survey, conducted by an independent review organization on behalf of NCDHHS, looked at the level of satisfaction providers had in North Carolina’s seven Local Management Entities-Managed Care Organizations (LME-MCOs) for 2019.
The Sandhills Center scored the highest of the other LME-MCOs on 10 of the 23 questions and was the only LME-MCO to score the highest on more than five of the questions, according to a press release. The Center scored at a 91.9% on the question that rates overall LME-MCO satisfaction, while the average score of the others was 88.9%.
The survey showed that in 2019, providers reported that the Sandhills Center excelled in:
• Accessibility for information, referrals and scheduling of appointments.
• Response time for provider needs.
• Responsiveness to local community stakeholders.
• Informative, helpful training for information technology and provider network issues and keeping providers updated, as well as answering questions accurately.
• Addressing provider interests in Provider Council and provider satisfaction with the network.
• Offering informative trainings that meet the needs of providers.
The Sandhills Center scored at or above the statewide average on 98.6% of the questions in the survey, the highest in the state. There were no performance areas where the Center was rated at the statewide minimum. Sandhills Center also had eight results that were statistically higher than the 2019 NC Overall result, and had no results that were statistically lower than the 2019 NC Overall result.
Sandhills Center manages public mental health, intellectual and developmental disabilities, and substance abuse services in Anson, Guilford, Harnett, Hoke, Lee, Montgomery, Moore, Randolph and Richmond counties in central North Carolina.
A spokesperson said, “The 2019 NCDHHS Provider Satisfaction Survey results reaffirm Sandhills Center’s commitment to its network, while successfully implementing oversight and management of the behavioral health services in our region.”