Arkansas

Arkansas has a strong commitment to supporting the PCMH as a foundation to state health care reform, evidenced by sweeping statewide legislation and grant funded PCMH pilots. In 2011, Arkansas Medicaid, the Arkansas Department of Human Services, Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and QualChoice of Arkansas partnered to transform the state’s health care and payment system through the Arkansas Health Care Payment Improvement Initiative. In 2013, the Governor signed the Health Care Independence Act into law. The Health Care Independence Act requires QHPs offered on the exchange to participate in the Arkansas Payment Improvement Initiative, which includes assignment to a primary care clinician, support for PCMH and access of clinical performance data for providers.

In 2013 Arkansas was awarded a State Innovation Model grant by CMS, which further builds upon their Payment Improvement Initiative and PCMH support. In 2014, the Arkansas legislature approved the expansion of Medicaid through a "private option" platform. The "private option" allows the state to use federal funding to buy plans for low-income individuals from the state's Insurance Marketplace. In January of 2015, Arkansas Surgeon General "noted that close to 80 percent of the state’s Medicaid beneficiaries are now covered by a patient-centered medical home."  

 

CHIPRA: 
No
MAPCP: 
No
Dual Eligible: 
No
2703 Health Home: 
No
CPCi: 
Yes
SIM Awards: 
Yes
PCMH in QHP: 
Yes
Legislative PCMH Initiative: 
Yes
Private Payer Program: 
Yes
State Facts: 
Population:
2,941,100
Uninsured Population:
15%
Total Medicaid Spending FY 2013: 
$4.2 Billion 
Overweight/Obese Adults:
69.9%
Poor Mental Health among Adults: 
35.9%
Medicaid Expansion: 
Yes
CPC+: 
CPC+

Arkansas Payment Improvement Initiative: Self-Insured Participation

Designed and launched by the state’s Medicaid program and some of its largest private insurers, including Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) and QualChoice, the Arkansas Payment Improvement Initiative (APII) has been a multi-payer effort since its inception in 2011. As the APII has developed, participation from some of the state’s largest self-insured employers has increased its scope and impact.

News Author: 
Joseph W. Thompson, William Golden, Michael Motley, Mark Fendrick, Christopher Mathis, and Michael Chernew

CMS gives Arkansas, Iowa more leeway in Medicaid expansion waivers

The Obama administration is continuing to compromise with Republican-led states that expand Medicaid, allowing Arkansas for the first time to impose cost-sharing for beneficiaries below poverty level.

The administration also gave Iowa the nod to continue to not offer nonemergency transportation to beneficiaries despite criticism from patient advocates and data showing negative consequences. 

News Author: 
Virgil Dickson

Panel OKs rule on patient care despite opposition from nurses

A state legislative panel on Monday officially reviewed a proposed rule requiring insurance companies that offer plans through the Health Insurance Marketplace to participate in the state’s patient-centered medical home program.

Some members of the Administrative Rules and Regulations Subcommittee of the Legislative Council objected to the rule because the program does not allow advanced-practice nurses to lead the so-called homes, or teams of health care professionals who provide care under the program.

News Author: 
John Lyon

Arkansas Payment Improvement Initiative: The First Year

Arkansas payers and providers actively participated in the design of both the episodic payment and patient-centered medical home (PCMH) models the state has recently implemented. We’ve written about each of these components of the multi-payer Arkansas Payment Improvement Initiative (APII) in our previous Health Affairs Blog posts.

News Author: 
William Golden, Joseph W. Thompson, Michael Motley, Mark Fendrick, Christopher Mathis, and Michael Chernew

Will Health Reform Bring New Role, Respect To Primary Care Physicians?

A few years ago it struck the D.C. region’s biggest medical insurer that the doctors who saw its members most often and knew them best got the smallest piece of the healthcare dollar. CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield spent billions on hospital procedures, drugs and specialty physicians to treat sick patients. Only one dollar in 20 went to the family-care doctors and other primary caregivers trained to keep people healthy.

The company’s move to shift that balance tells a lesser-known story of the Affordable Care Act and efforts to change the health system.

News Author: 
Jay Hancock

State of Arkansas Taps CCNC Expertise in Care Management, Medical Homes and Population Health

Award-winning Care Management Program Selected to Assist in PCMH Project

Community Care of North Carolina (CCNC) has been selected by the Arkansas Department of Human Services/Division of Medical Services from among bidders seeking to provide care coordination support and population health services for the State of Arkansas. Arkansas is seeking a partner to train and support primary care practices in care management, quality improvement, performance measurement and utilization of data for performance improvement and to assist the state in assessing program performance in these areas.

Medical homes, ACOs offer better business models

The patient-centered medical home model in Arkansas, which has more than 600 participating providers, helps the state's Medicaid program incentivize quality care instead of paying for volume of services. Arkansas officials designed the PCMH payment structure to support primary care doctors in the state, who often rely on high volumes of acute care, to instead implement team-based strategies, coordinate chronic care delivery and achieve better patient outcomes, according to a He

News Author: 
Dina Overland

Patient-Centered Medical Homes In Arkansas

In 2011, Arkansas embarked on a multi-payer comprehensive payment reform to convert a majority of private and public payments to a value-based purchasing model. An underlying goal of this effort, the Arkansas Payment Improvement Initiative (APII), is to incentivize quality and cost-effective care delivery rather than volume of services provided.

News Author: 
William Golden, Joseph Thompson, Rhonda Hill, Mark Fendrick, Christopher Mathis, and Michael Chernew

The Arkansas PCMH Program

The Arkansas Patient-Centered Medical Home Program is a key component of the Arkansas Health Care Payment Improvement Initiative (APII) and  is transforming the structure of the state's health care system to control unsustainable growth in costs and reward providers who consistently deliver high-quality, coordinated, cost-effective care to patients.

Cigna Collaborative Accountable Care (CAC) Program - PremierCare Northwest

Cigna and Northwest Health System / PremierCare Northwest , the largest provider-owned network in Arkansas, have launched a collaborative accountable care initiative to improve patient access to health care, enhance care coordination and achieve the “triple aim” of improved health, affordability and patient experience. The program became effective January 1, 2014 and is Cigna's first collaborative accountable care initiative to launch in Arkansas.

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