Trump administration approves work requirement for Arkansas Works beneficiaries
Governor says Arkansas will be first to roll out Medicaid work requirement.
State attorney general joins another suit to undo Obamacare, including Arkansas Works
Arkansas has joined another federal lawsuit seeking an end to the Affordable Care Act, state Attorney General Leslie Rutledge announced late Monday afternoon.
Special legislative session could make Arkansas first to regulate pharmacy benefit managers
On Monday afternoon, Governor Hutchinson said he would call a special session of the Arkansas legislature to address low reimbursement rates provided to pharmacies by middleman companies called pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs.
Pharmacy reimbursement fight prompts special session request from legislative leaders
Since Jan. 1, Brandon Cooper, a pharmacist at Soo’s Drug Store in Jonesboro, has turned away a number of patients seeking to fill routine prescriptions. The problem is not that the pharmacy lacks the drugs in question or that the patients don’t have insurance, Cooper said. It’s that the state’s largest insurance carrier, Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield, recently changed the way it pays for pharmaceuticals.
Shrinking Medicaid enrollment lowers state budget projection by $47 million, governor says
On Thursday, Governor Hutchinson announced that enrollment in Arkansas’s Medicaid program has declined by almost 10 percent over the last year — from 1,048,000 on Jan. 1, 2017, to 931,000 on Jan. 1, 2018.
Arkansas still waiting on federal approval for Medicaid changes
Proposal to limit eligibility could face tough scrutiny from feds.
State still awaiting federal approval on Medicaid expansion changes
Officials face challenging transition to impose work requirements and reduce eligibility.
Governor urges congressional fix to health care subsidies
But he also promises Arkansas Works costs will remain stable in 2018.
In backing Obamacare repeal bill, governor would trade billions of dollars for more state flexibility
On Sept. 19, Governor Hutchinson endorsed the so-called Graham-Cassidy health care bill and urged the U.S. Senate to approve the partisan legislation before a Sept. 30 deadline makes its passage effectively impossible. The governor called the bill — sponsored by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) — the nation’s “last, best chance to repeal the Affordable Care Act.”
DHS reshuffles to create ‘one-stop shop’ for Medicaid providers
On Thursday, Arkansas Department of Human Services Director Cindy Gillespie announced an internal reorganization of the DHS that will shift 171 employees to a newly created division, impact more than 40 DHS contracts and streamline the agency’s oversight of thousands of Medicaid providers across the state.
Arkansas has backlog of 11,000 requests for vital records
Online requests for birth and death certificates estimated to take 75 to 90 days.
Senate bill imperils rural health care, hospital leaders warn
In the four years since Arkansas chose to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, Harris Medical Center in Newport has seen its “bad debt” — bills left unpaid by patients — cut in half.