Federal Judge Says Arkansas Cannot Change Way It Provides Medicaid-Covered Services for Developmentally Delayed Children

U.S. District Court Judge Bill Wilson on Dec. 16 ruled that Arkansas officials cannot change the way special services for developmentally delayed preschool children are provided, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports. Currently, the Arkansas Department of Human Services covers through Medicaid day treatment and therapy for developmentally delayed preschool children when the services are provided through the Child Health Management Services Program. Breck Hopkins, chief deputy counsel for the department, said that the state believes that children are entitled to receive such services through Medicaid but wants to provide them outside the CHMS program to save money. The state would not end Medicaid coverage of the services. But providers contend that day treatment and therapy services are only available through CHMS clinics, and if the state removed CHMS from Medicaid, children would no longer be able to receive the services. Wilson last month blocked the state's attempt to remove the CHMS program from Medicaid. Phil Kaplan, an attorney who represents providers and parents of such children, said, "This is a real victory for the parents and children who receive these benefits because otherwise they would have been without these services that aren't provided anywhere else" (Satter, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 12/17). Last year, the state tried to entirely end Medicaid coverage of the day treatment and therapy services to save $4.9 million to $5.7 million annually, a move that was blocked after providers sued the state (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 8/1).