Arkansas Affordable Insurance Exchange Grants Awards List
Arkansas has received three grant awards to build its Affordable Insurance Exchange. This includes a Planning Grant and two Level One Establishment Grants.
Summaries of Arkansas’ applications for each grant are provided below:
Establishment Grant Level One Application Summary
Administrator: Arkansas Insurance Department
Award Amount: $7,665,483; $18,595,072
Award Date: February 22, 2012; September 27, 2012
Application Due Date: December 30, 2011; August 15, 2012
Level of Funding: Level One
Summary: Arkansas intends to build on its Exchange planning progress to design and implement key components of the Federally-facilitated Exchange Partnership Model in Arkansas. Using Establishment Grant funding, Arkansas proposes to design and implement automation to connect Arkansas Medicaid and appropriate State-run Exchange functions with the Federally-facilitated Exchange Eligibility and Enrollment portal; design, develop, and implement operations and information systems to support State-operated Federally-facilitated Exchange Consumer Assistance functions including outreach, education, and the Navigator Program; and design, develop, and automate State-operated Plan Management functions of the Federally-facilitated Exchange including Qualified Health Plan certification, rating, monitoring, and evaluation to effect continuous quality improvement. These activities will continue to be done in collaboration with state partners and informed by input from stakeholders. Arkansas also plans to design a temporary reinsurance program.
The Arkansas Insurance Department (AID) is receiving a second Level One award to work in partnership with HHS and other federal and state stakeholders--public and private--to fully implement Plan Management and Consumer Assistance components of the Federally-facilitated Health Benefits Exchange (FFE). With this funding Arkansas plans to: 1) implement the Arkansas Qualified Health Plan (QHP) Certification Process and upload QHPs to the FFE portal in time for October 1, 2013 open enrollment; 2) implement the Arkansas In-Person Assister program to complement the federal Navigator Program and launch a workforce prepared to facilitate enrollment in the FFE; 3) implement a targeted outreach and education program encouraging FFE enrollment; and 4) study options and select the best method for promoting continuity of coverage and health provider networks among the large percentage of Arkansas residents expected to move between insurance affordability programs.
State Planning Grant
Awarded September 30, 2010
Administrator: Arkansas Insurance Department
Amount Awarded: $1,000,000
Award Supplement: $200,928 (March 8, 2012)
- The planning process will be guided by principles of consumer protection, stakeholder inclusion, integrated systems, quality, and cost-efficiency.
- Create an interagency executive planning team.
- Secure assistance with research and analyses that will allow Arkansas to make informed planning decisions.
- Create a final report which will include recommendations about:
- Governance and administrator of the Arkansas Exchange.
- Policy/regulatory needs including benefit standards, incentives, reporting, and monitoring requirements.
- Existing technology and infrastructure to support Exchange operations.
- Methods and costs for integrating Exchange eligibility and enrollment processes with those for Medicaid and other emerging health reform initiatives.
- A start-up business/operations plan and five year sustainability plan for Arkansas’s Exchange.
- Conduct background market research, Exchange Planning Meetings, and fund the staff necessary to support these efforts.
- Design and implement key components of the Federally-facilitated Exchange Partnership Model in Arkansas.