Month: January 2024

The state agency at the center of Arizona’s ongoing behavioral health crisis knew its proposed billing reforms could trigger a surge in homelessness nearly a year before implementing the changes, yet still failed to adequately prepare for the fallout—or adjust its response to the crisis that emerged as a result. Emails obtained by AZCIR show Arizona’s top housing official alerted an administrator with the state’s Medicaid program to concerns raised in August 2022, as the program worked to revamp how it reimbursed behavioral health providers. “We know that there are providers out there who are substandard and agree that needs to be addressed,” a…

The state agency at the center of Arizona’s ongoing behavioral health crisis knew its proposed billing reforms could trigger a surge in homelessness nearly a year before implementing the changes, yet still failed to adequately prepare for the fallout—or adjust its response to the crisis that emerged as a result. Emails obtained by AZCIR show Arizona’s top housing official alerted an administrator with the state’s Medicaid program to concerns raised in August 2022, as the program worked to revamp how it reimbursed behavioral health providers. “We know that there are providers out there who are substandard and agree that needs to be addressed,” a…