| ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are many people who deserve thanks for helping with this project. First, I would like to thank the NC Council on Developmental Disabilities and the NC Office of Research, Demonstrations and Rural Health Development and the Area L Health Education Center (AHEC), whose generous support made this guide possible. I would also like to thank Laura Sutton Elsberg and JoAnne Bailey, my research assistants during the 1998-99 school year, who helped me compile the information for the guide. I would also like to thank Emily Costich and Jenny Rellick, students in the Department of Health Policy and Administration at the School of Public Health, UNC-CH, who helped me finalize the materials. Staff at the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, at UNC-CH also deserve special recognition, including Heather Edin and Kristie Weisner who helped with some of the editing, and Carolyn Busse who did the design and layout. I would also like to thank Nell Yates for her significant help in editing the first drafts of these documents. The staff at the NC Department of Insurance reviewed all the materials for accuracy. A special thanks goes to Barbara Morales Burke, Scott Cohen, Theresa Shackelford and Dionne Wells. I also want to thank each of the HMOs listed in this guide: Aetna/US Healthcare, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna Healthcare of North Carolina, Inc., Doctors Health Plan, Generations, Optimum Choice, Partners National Health Plan, Coventry/Principal Health Care of the Carolinas, Prudential Health Care Plan, Qual Choice, The Wellness Plan of North Carolina, Inc., United HealthCare, WellPath Select and Kaiser. The HMOs all sent me copies of the Evidence of Coverage and then had staff review the materials for accuracy. The NC Institute of Medicine also had two advisory groups to review the contents and structure of the guide. I would first like to thank the NCoIOM Advisory Committee members: James Andrews, President, AFL-CIO; Carol Brainard of Brainard Associates; Barbara Morales Burke, Deputy Commissioner, NC Department of Insurance; Larry Churchill, Former Chair of the Department of Social Medicine, UNC-CH; Richard Clark, Family Voice of North Carolina; David DeVries, Former Executive Director of the NC State Employees Health Plan; Harvey Estes, Chair of the Board of the NC Institute of Medicine; Allen Feezor, Former Vice-President for Insurance and Managed Care Programs, Pitt County Memorial Hospital; Bob Greczyn, COO, Blue Cross Blue Shield; Jane Hedgepeth, Vice President, CS Henry Transfer Inc.; A. Dennis McBride, State Public Health Director, NC Department of Health and Human Services; Timothy O’Brien, CEO, The Wellness Plan of North Carolina, Inc. of North Carolina; Jane Perkins, Staff Attorney, National Health Law Program; Holly Riddle, Director, NC Council on Developmental Disabilities; William Roper, Dean, School of Public Health, UNC-CH; Adam Searing, Project Director, NC Health Access Coalition; Jeffrey Sims, Assistant Director for Managed Care Programs, NC Division of Medical Assistance; Jeff Spade, Executive Director, NC Rural Health Center; Bob Stapelton, Hannaford Supermarkets; and Steve White, CEO, Cigna Healthcare of North Carolina, Inc.. I would also like to thank the members of the Disability Work Group that provided significant insight into the concerns of people with disabilities and their families. The members of this work group include: Josh Alexander, UNC School of Medicine; Richard Clark, Family Voice of North Carolina; Anita Farel, Department of Maternal and Child Health, UNC-CH; Mary Heacox; Annette Lauber, NC Assistive Technology Project; Janet Sonnenberg, Donna Scandlin, Office on Disability and Health, Frank Porter Graham, UNC-CH; Adam Searing, Project Director, NC Health Access Coalition; Annie Simpson; Grace Sisco; Sillar Smith, NC Council on Developmental Disabilities, and Emily Van Derhoven. Richard Clark, State Coordinator of Family Voices of North Carolina, part of a national grassroots network of families and friends speaking on behalf of children with special health care needs, provided significant assistance in reviewing these materials for relevance to people with disabilities. |