Primary care clinics and multi-specialty organizations are onboarding as part of a phased deployment, with a statewide rollout, including independent specialists and major health systems, targeted for January 1, 2027.
CARY, N.C., Nov. 10, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The North Carolina State Health Plan's (SHP) new Preferred Provider Program (PPP) is launching statewide with care coordination support from Infina Connect's Intelligent Care Coordinator (ICC) platform. The Plan serves 750,000 state employees, teachers, retirees, and their dependents, with 540,000 state-funded members whose care will be coordinated through ICC.
Beginning January 1, 2027, SHP will offer members a tiered network that rewards the use of Preferred providers with lower deductibles, copays, and out-of-pocket costs. A member enrolled in the Standard PPO Plan who sees a Preferred provider can reduce their annual deductible by up to 70% and their annual out-of-pocket maximum by nearly two-thirds. That can mean thousands of dollars in annual savings for a family.
"The State Health Plan is committed to helping our members make informed decisions about their healthcare and connecting them with high-quality providers throughout North Carolina," said Tom Friedman, Executive Director of the North Carolina State Health Plan. "Infina Connect's platform provides the infrastructure to support that effort. This initiative represents an important advancement in how we support access, better outcomes, and lower total medical costs for the members we serve."
How ICC supports the Preferred Provider Program
The SHP deployment is one of the largest statewide rollouts of coordinated care technology in the country. ICC already supports hundreds of thousands of lives through its existing customer base of ACOs, health systems, and provider networks.
ICC gives primary care providers a view of each specialist's network tier, enables clinical document exchange across EHRs, and tracks whether the member was scheduled, seen, and reported back on.
Primary care practices use the platform to inform members about the financial and clinical implications of their referral options, while members retain full control over where they receive care.
"The State Health Plan has designed a network around value and member choice," said Joe Francis, CEO of Infina Connect. "Our platform gives primary care providers a simple way to show members their options and coordinate the referral that fits them best. For a decade, we've helped referral networks across North Carolina close the loop between primary and specialty care. This is patient navigation at scale."
Phased rollout underway, statewide by January 1, 2027
The initial deployment phase is underway, with primary care clinics and multi-specialty organizations in the Preferred network beginning the onboarding process this fall. Additional participating primary care and multi-specialty organizations will come online over the coming weeks. Independent specialists and major Tier One health systems throughout North Carolina will join the platform ahead of the January 1, 2027 statewide rollout, with thousands of providers across every network tier available to primary care practices by that date.
About Infina Connect
Infina Connect is a healthcare technology company based in Cary, North Carolina. Its Intelligent Care Coordinator (ICC) platform provides referral management and closed-loop care coordination infrastructure for ACOs, IPAs, health systems, clinically integrated networks, and public payers. ICC is EHR-agnostic and supports referral coordination, patient navigation, clinical document exchange, and closed-loop tracking across primary care, specialty care, and behavioral health. Learn more at www.infinaconnect.com.
Media Contact
April Koontz, Infina Connect, 1 9196748411, [email protected], www.infinaconnect.com
SOURCE Infina Connect
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