AHCCCS News & Updates
Note: Information provided in PDF files.
Governor Jan Brewer Announces New AHCCCS Director
On November 3, 2009, Governor Brewer announced the transition of AHCCCS Leadership. Please see the press release for more information:
Governor Brewer's Announcement - 11/3/09 [140KB]
Report on Health Care Provider Assessments
Arizona Laws 2009, Third Special Session, Chapter 10, Section 29, requires AHCCCS to review and report on health care provider assessments. Attached is the report submitted to the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Governor on November 6, 2009.
Health Care Provider Assessments Report [PDF, 1.46MB]
H1N1 (Swine Flu)
In an effort to reduce the burden of communications coming into your office, AHCCCS Contractors have agreed to provide a letter to their in network primary care providers that explains where to obtain information related to H1N1 Novel Influenza and vaccine as well as the correct coding and billing information for administration of H1N1 Novel influenza vaccine.
2009 Flu Season Letter for AHCCCS Providers [20KB]
Your office can expect to continue receiving updates from other state agencies and associations for both seasonal and H1N1 influenza.
Each AHCCCS Contractor has agreed to keep their websites updated with at least the latest information from Maricopa County, ADHS, VFC and TAPI. The Arizona influenza information campaign is called Stop The Spread. Member/patient information
that can be printed for use in your office can be found at the following
websites:
Providers can also access information and materials from the following website:
Loss of KidsCare or AHCCCS Health Insurance is a qualifying event for your employer's group health plan.
The Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA) of 2009 made several changes designed to help people get or keep health insurance coverage. One of the changes allows employees and their families to enroll in their employer's group health plan without having to wait for an open enrollment period when the employee or dependent loses their AHCCCS or KidsCare benefits. The employee or dependent must:
-
Be eligible to sign up for health insurance through their employer. For example, some employers only offer health insurance to employees who work 30 hours a week or more. Someone who works only 24 hours per week would not be eligible in this example;
and
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Ask to enroll with the employer's group health plan within 60 days from the date the AHCCCS or KidsCare coverage ends.
Contact your employer immediately if you think you may be eligible to enroll in their group health plan coverage and your AHCCCS or KidsCare coverage is ending. More information is available
from CMS:
Childrens Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA) of 2009, Section 311
FY 2010 State Budget
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AHCCCS Potential Impact of a 15% Budget Reduction
On September 18th, the Governor's Deputy
Chief of Staff of Finance and Director of OSPB, Eileen Klein, made the
attached request to state agencies.
The memo requests data from each state agency describing the
ramifications and impacts of 15% reductions to their operations should
the Legislature look predominately at cuts to close Arizona's remaining
state budget deficit of $1.5 billion for FY 2010. Please note that this
is a data collection tool, and should not be construed as a proposed
budget solution by OSPB or Governor Brewer.
On October 9th, AHCCCS submitted the
attached response of the potential impact of implementing a 15%
reduction. The AHCCCS reduction is an adjusted 15% of discretionary
or optional state funded programs, the elimination of which would not
jeopardize federal stimulus dollars or voter protected programs.
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Program
Integrity
As part of the FY 2010 Budget, the
Legislature accounted for a savings of $50 million to the General Fund
($200 million in total funds) toward AHCCCS program integrity
reductions. To assist in that effort, AHCCCS issued a RFI and hosted
presentations to several vendors. Based on the information provided,
AHCCCS is currently developing an RFP to enhance program integrity and
clinical editing capabilities. For more information, refer to YH09-0043
Fraud Reduction and Program Integrity within AHCCCS.
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Review of the Acute Care Adult Benefit Package
As a result of FY 2010 reductions, AHCCCS is reviewing and making changes to medically necessary criteria and policy. For updates on recent policy changes, go to
the
AHCCCS Medical Policy Manual (AMPM). AHCCCS continues to review the acute care adult benefit package to address how cost savings can be achieved in light of the continued budget shortfall and growth in the Medicaid population. Additional information will be made available as further details emerge.
For information about previous State legislative activities, please
visit the State
Legislative and Budget Activities web page.
For information about Federal legislative activities, please visit
the ARRA web
page.
AHCCCS