DHS Extends Medicaid Income Verification Deadline To 30 Days

Arkansas will lengthen the amount of time Medicaid recipients have to respond to a request to verify incomes to 30 days as a result of a change in guidance from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Arkansas Department of Human Services announced Friday (Aug. 28).

The state has been giving Medicaid recipients 10 days to respond to requests for income verification. Failure to do so starts a process that terminates recipients’ benefits.

DHS Director of Communications Amy Webb said that the department so far has terminated 58,895 polices, but 3,286 of those have been reinstated as part of an appeal process.

“The Department of Human Services will temporarily stop sending re-determination notices so that the notices can be updated to reflect the new timeline, coded into our system and tested to ensure they go out as expected,” Webb wrote in an email. “The change will apply to clients who have not yet received a re-determination letter and to those who received a letter but have not yet had their cases closed or renewed (these individuals will receive a second notice explaining that the timeline to respond has been extended).”

“In regard to those clients whose cases have already been processed, federal law gives people who have received a closure notice 90 days from the date of closure to provide income verification and have their coverage re-instated without going through the application process again.

“Due to the changing federal guidance and the impact it could have on our timeline to initiate renewals, CMS offered to extend the state’s deadline to process renewals. Arkansas plans to accept that offer.”