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Ambulance access payment approved by CMS; ADH presents multiple licensure and milk‑bank rules
Summary
DMS reported CMS approval of an ambulance assessment/access payment model; Department of Health presented rule changes on interpreter licensure, freestanding birthing center reporting, orthotic/prosthetic licensure, and milk bank standards. Several rules were reviewed and, without objection, stood as reviewed.
Department of Management Services and the Arkansas Department of Health presented separate rule packages to the Senate Public Health Committee on Wednesday.
Elizabeth Pittman, deputy director for DMS, told members the department has developed a state plan amendment and rule to assess private ambulance provider revenue and create an access payment pool. "We will be doing what we call an assessment of their revenue so that we can generate some state dollars that will then be turned around and put into a pool for their access payment," Pittman said, adding that CMS approved the approach on Aug. 20.
Laura Shue, general counsel for the Department of Health, described several rule updates enacted to implement 2019 laws: changes to licensure for interpreters serving deaf or hard‑of‑hearing clients including automatic licensure for returning military veterans and spouses, temporary provisional licensure and reduced application fees; revised rules for freestanding birthing centers that add transfer reporting requirements; updates to orthotic, prosthetic and pedorthic provider rules (reciprocity, background checks and temporary licenses); and a new milk bank standards rule to govern donor screening, lab testing, equipment and transport standards. ADH staff said there are currently no freestanding birthing centers or commercial milk banks in Arkansas; the rules are proactive standards should providers seek to operate.
Committee members had no objections and, where the transcript records it, the rules "stood as reviewed." The ambulance rule was presented with the department’s assurance it had consulted with the Ambulance Association before foregoing a formal public hearing.
No formal roll‑call votes on those rules were recorded in the briefing; where the committee chair said "without objection, this rule will stand as reviewed," no roll‑call tally was recorded in the transcript.
