Medicaid plans › North Carolina
North Carolina Medicaid Managed-Care Plans for Providers
Enrollments are billed 50% at the start and 50% at submission; everything else 100% at the start.
NC Medicaid is run by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. 2,417,931 people were enrolled in its 9 managed-care plans in 2024. To see their patients, a provider enrolls with NC Medicaid through NCTracks, then applies to each plan separately.
| Plan | Members (2024) | Share | Parent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Healthy Blue of North Carolina | 592,325 | 24.5% | In-state |
| WellCare | 481,884 | 19.9% | Centene |
| UnitedHealthcare | 461,957 | 19.1% | UnitedHealth Group |
| AmeriHealth Caritas | 387,174 | 16% | Independence Health Group |
| Carolina Complete Health | 274,181 | 11.3% | Centene |
| Trillium Health Resources | 77,746 | 3.2% | In-state |
| Alliance Behavioral Healthcare | 58,355 | 2.4% | In-state |
| Partners Behavioral Health Management | 44,442 | 1.8% | In-state |
| Vaya Health | 39,867 | 1.6% | In-state |
How Joining Works in North Carolina
First the state: NC Medicaid enrollment through NCTracks, which gives you the Medicaid ID every plan asks for. Then the plans: each takes its own participation request and credentials you from your CAQH ProView (DataSpring) profile. 3 parent companies run plans here, and plans owned by the same company still contract state by state.
How to Join Each North Carolina Plan
WellCare, Carolina Complete Health (Centene): Centene runs this plan alongside its Ambetter and Wellcare products. Each Centene plan takes its own contract request on the plan's provider website, credentials from your CAQH ProView (DataSpring) profile, and will not load a provider without the state Medicaid ID.
UnitedHealthcare (UnitedHealth Group): UnitedHealthcare Community Plans use UnitedHealthcare's provider onboarding: a participation request on the UnitedHealthcare provider site, credentialing from your CAQH ProView (DataSpring) profile, then a state-specific Community Plan agreement.
AmeriHealth Caritas (Independence Health Group): Plans in the AmeriHealth Caritas family take participation requests on each plan's own provider website and credential from your CAQH ProView (DataSpring) profile.
Healthy Blue of North Carolina, Trillium Health Resources, Alliance Behavioral Healthcare, Partners Behavioral Health Management, Vaya Health: This plan is run in-state rather than by a national carrier, so participation requests go to the plan's own provider relations or contracting team, listed on its provider website.
Also in North Carolina: Medicare, NC Medicaid and commercial credentialing.
Questions
Which North Carolina Medicaid plan is the largest?
Healthy Blue of North Carolina, with 592,325 members in 2024, 24.5% of the 2,417,931 people enrolled in North Carolina's Medicaid managed-care plans.
Do I have to join every North Carolina Medicaid plan?
No. Each plan is a separate contract. Practices usually start with the two or three largest plans in their county, then add others as patients ask for them. All of them require NC Medicaid enrollment first.
Membership from KFF, Medicaid MCO Enrollment by Plan and Parent Firm, 2024. Plans change when the state rebids its contracts; we confirm the current list on every file.