A few weeks ago CMS approved Arizona’s request to include work requirements and/or community engagement and reporting requirements as a condition of Medicaid enrollment beginning on January 1, 2020. CMS’ Letter to Director Snyder is 18 pages long and contains conditions and details- so refer to that letter for the nuts and bolts of what they said.
The work requirement/community engagement Waiver request was mandated by Senate Bill 1092 (from 2015) which requires AHCCCS to ask CMS’ permission to implement new eligibility requirements for “able-bodied adults”.
The work/community engagement requirements (which begin 1/1/20) will require some “able-bodied” members between the ages of 19 to 49 years-old to participate in community engagement activities for at least 80 hours per month and report their activities monthly. Activities can include employment, including self-employment; less than full-time education; job or life skills training; job search activities; and community service.
A member who fails to comply in any given month will be suspended from AHCCCS coverage for 2-months but automatically reinstated after that. Members won’t be terminated for failing to comply.
There are several categories of folks that will be exempted from the requirements – you can see that full list in a previous blog post.
A few weeks ago, AHCCCS released a Request for Proposal (SOLICITATION # YH19-0028) to find a vendor to develop the system that AHCCCS members would use to report community engagement activities, work activities, report exclusions, and/or to notify AHCCCS why they haven’t met the work/community engagement requirements. The solicitation reminds bidders that the system has to communicate via file transfer or web interfaces with their eligibility and enrollment system and connect to the “AZTECS” system so it can identify members that are participating in SNAP or Cash assistance eligibility. Bids are due February 19, 2019.
Hopefully AHCCCS will find a solid vendor that will deliver a system that is easy to use for AHCCCS members with an intuitive interface, easy to use functions, and very accurate connectivity with other databases so that members will have an easy time reporting their compliance with the new requirements.
