DHS removes nearly 18,000 from Arkansas Medicaid rolls
LITTLE ROCK — The state Department of Human Services’ efforts to improve the integrity of the Medicaid rolls resulted in 17,878 people being removed from the rolls at the end of May, DHS Director Cindy Gillespie said Thursday.
In a letter to Gov. Asa Hutchinson that was released to the news media, Gillespie said efforts the agency launched this year to clean up the state Medicaid rolls included use of the Public Assistance Reporting Information System, a service to which the agency subscribes, to determine whether Arkansas Medicaid recipients are receiving public assistance in other states.
Checks through PARIS on 700,000 people enrolled in Arkansas’ traditional Medicaid or Medicaid expansion programs found that 26,696 appeared to be receiving public benefits in other states, according to Gillespie. She said DHS mailed letters to those beneficiaries explaining the situation and asking for proof of residence, and 1,986 traditional Medicaid beneficiaries and 8,156 Medicaid expansion beneficiaries either did not respond or no longer live in Arkansas.
DHS removed those people from the state’s Medicaid rolls at the end of May, Gillespie said.
PARIS has found another 12,291 matches between Arkansas Medicaid beneficiaries and beneficiaries of public assistance in other states this month, and those people also will be removed from the state Medicaid rolls if they do not respond or no longer live in Arkansas, she said.
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