Arkansas has been in the national news a lot this year for a major change to our health care system. While the disenrollment of nearly 17,000 Arkansas Works beneficiaries is newsworthy, there is another major change underway that’s not received much media attention or public scrutiny.

Last year, Arkansas lawmakers passed Act 775, which creates a managed care model for beneficiaries receiving behavioral health and intellectual/development disability services. It’s known as the Provider-Led Shared Savings Entities (PASSE) model. Each PASSE focuses on coordinating the delivery of physical and behavioral health and specialized home-and community-based services for Medicaid enrollees.

Arkansas is currently in phase one of the rollout. Many hope the PASSE model will help address the challenges of providing high-quality care to people with the most intensive Medicaid needs, while reducing the high cost of care in Medicaid. However, there are significant concerns with the beneficiary assessment process, communication problems and short implementation timeline.

Our new report, Transforming Medicaid in Arkansas: An Early Look at the PASSE Program, details the model itself and recommends state-level measures to help ensure there are no gaps in health care coverage for Arkansans.

Click the download button below to read the full report.