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North Carolina Medicaid recipients are running out of time to ensure they’ll have no trouble getting the doctor they want when the program makes a significant shift soon.

Friday is the end of open enrollment for North Carolina Medicaid Managed Care, which begins July 1.

About 1.8 million of the 2.5 million people covered through Medicaid or a related program will participate. They can choose their primary care provider and health plan. There are several plans to choose from — four are statewide and a fifth is regional.

People who don’t enroll will be placed in a plan automatically. Everyone will get 90 days to make changes.

North Carolina Medicaid is switching from a traditional fee-for-service program to one in which health plans receive fixed monthly payments for every patient seen and treated. Preparations began in 2015.

WRAL-TV reported that fewer than 160,000 people had enrolled as of Wednesday, even with a state advertising campaign.

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