Contact Us
   1401 West Capitol
   Suite 300
   Victory Building
   Little Rock, AR 72201
   Phone: 501-526-ACHI
   Fax: 501-526-2252

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Health Insurance Initiative- Health Care Financing

Purpose: Current funding for and financial access to health care services are not sufficient, threatening Arkansans’ ability to receive high-quality care at affordable prices. The erosion of private sector financing increases Arkansans’ reliance on public sector programs. But, public funding is limited and health care providers’ ability to provide uncompensated care is at breaking point. ACHI works to resolve financial instability in the health care system by global assessment and strategic development of efficient, affordable solutions.

Governor's Roundtable on Health Care (established December 2008):  Commissioned by Governor Mike Beebe and staffed by ACHI, the Roundtable on Health Care consists on 30 non-governmental representatives of community decision-makers from the health, health care, business, and consumer sectors.  For more information, click here.

ARHealthNet: 

Dec 20th, 2006 Governor announces rollout of ARHealthNet- Affordable Insurance for Small Businesses
News Release
Fact Sheet
FAQs

Arkansas Insurance Department Commissioner, Julie Bowman; Arkansas
Center for Health Improvement Director and Arkansas Surgeon General,
Joe Thompson, MD PHD; and John Selig, Director of Arkansas
Department of Health and Human Services talk with reporters during the
December 20, 2006 ARHealthNet news conference.

Governor Mike Huckabee talks with the first ARHealthNet enrollees, Alicia
and Melvin Taylor, whose business, Manicured Lawn Service in Benton,
Ark. has not been able to afford health insurance coverage for
employees until now.

The Arkansas Safety Net Benefit Program, endorsed by the Governor, the legislature, and the Arkansas Department of Health and Human Services, offers small businesses a limited health benefit package for their employees.  Most Arkansans have health insurance through their place of employment, but as insurance rates become prohibitively expensive, employers increasingly can no longer afford to offer insurance and, if it is offered, many employees cannot afford the premiums. The original program proposed by the Roundtable was an innovative concept through which employers would partner with the state and federal governments to offer a benefit package for all their employees, regardless of income. The Arkansas Safety Net Benefit Program Concept Paper, submitted to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in 2002, was approved as a demonstration waiver under the Health Insurance Flexibility and Accountability (HIFA) initiative in March 2006. This approval allowed the state to establish a new state–employer “safety net” benefit program to make health insurance available to uninsured low-wage employees of small businesses in Arkansas. ACHI is providing technical assistance to the Arkansas Department of Health and Human Services to implement this waiver. The implementation timeline calls for recruitment of employers and enrollment to take place in December 2006 with coverage of enrollees beginning January 2007.  The Program will be limited to 15,000 total enrollees in the first phase.  During subsequent years, enrollment will be expanded based on funding availability.

Navigating the Landscape of Health Care (2005–2015): In 2005, the Roundtable and ACHI embarked on an innovative project to map a conceptual grid of health care scenarios that would provide a framework for thinking about choices faced today in the health care arena and likely future events. The goal of the graphic map is not to simply predict the future; rather it brings diverse groups together to prepare for the future and shape it. To ensure the map represented stimulators of change, the Roundtable included economic, social, and political considerations as well as the local, national, and global perspectives. The map will continue to be a work in progress as other public and private organizations respond and incorporate their own scenarios for the future. 

Publications
Arkansas Health Insurance Expansion Initiative- 2002 Roundtable Report

2005 Arkansas Fact Book: A Profile of the Uninsured

2006 Arkansas Medicaid Primer
 

Resources
ARHealthNet Insurance Benefits Program   www.arhealthnet.com
ARHealthNet Background Information
 

Act 1044 of 2003, An Act to Authorize a Health Insurance Flexibility and Accountability Initiative http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/ftproot/acts/2003/public/act1044.pdf

Act 616 of 2007, An Act to provide data for hospital price transparency

Act 1009 of 2007, The Hospital Infection Disclosure Act of 2007

Act 686 of 2007, An Act to require subscriber identification cards to identify any network discounts that will apply to provider claims