Lawmakers Press DHS, Insurers and PASS Plans Over Delayed Provider Payments and Enrollment Backlog

Lawmakers and providers pressed the Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS), the Insurance Department and the state's three PASS plans on April 24 over widespread payment delays and a backlog of provider enrollments after the PASS model moved to full-risk billing on March 1.

The hearing, convened by the Senate State Agencies & Governmental Affairs committee, focused on technical failures that have left providers unable to submit clean electronic claims and forced some to wait weeks for reimbursement. Alan Kerr, Arkansas Insurance Department commissioner, told the committee the department's role is to regulate PASS organizations for financial solvency and to enforce risk-based capital rules, including an initial $6,000,000 capital requirement that PASS entities must meet to be licensed. He and other insurance officials said benefit design and…