HJAR May/Jun 2021

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF ARKANSAS I  MAY / JUN 2021 41 to approximately 12,000 Marshall Islanders. Lower cost of living, housing affordability and the access to healthcare, quality school systems and available factory work have made Arkansas attractive to citizens from the Free Association States. Marshallese children born in Arkansas get U.S. citizen- ship, and high school graduates are admitted to local colleges. Many Marshallese people work in the poultry industry, other factories, the airport and hotels. Some speak English, especially younger Marshall Islanders, but Marshallese remains their primary language. Higher instances of diabetes, high blood pressure, thyroid conditions and cancer per- sist in the Marshallese population. However, after the federal Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity ReconciliationAct of 1996, adult COFA residents were not allowed ac- cess to Medicaid. Restoring Healthcare for COFA Residents in Arkansas DHS has worked quickly to make health- care coverage available to COFA residents in Arkansas. With the support of Governor Asa Hutchinson and theArkansas State Leg- islature, DHS promulgated an emergency rule in the Medical Services Policy Manual to align the policy with the Consolidated Mary Franklin Director Division of County Operations Arkansas Medicaid AppropriationsAct. The emergency rule was effective March 2, 2021, and allows retroac- tive coverage for eligible individuals back to Dec. 27, 2020, depending on the date of an application. Clients seeking this coverage may do so online, by paper, by phone or in person at any one of the DHS county offices. In April, the DHS Division of County Operations updated the eligibility system that allows Arkansans to apply for healthcare. During that transi- tion, Marshall Islanders who applied before the update were asked to use the paper ap- plication for healthcare that has been trans- lated to Marshallese. DHS has monitored its systems to identify clients who may have filed online during the transition and incor- rectly denied while system changes were in progress. The DHS Office of Communica- tions and Community Engagement also has developed outreach materials and messages translated into Marshallese to inform those who are impacted about the new healthcare coverage that is available and the best way to apply as system changes were made. More information about how residents from the Free Association States can apply for Med- icaid is available on the DHS website at www. humanservices.arkansas.gov. n SOURCES Arkansas Coalition for Marshallese. (2021, De- cember 21). New COVID-19 bill will restore health- care access to compact of free association resi- dents. [Press release]. Retrieved from https://www. arkansasmarshallese.org/updates/2021/1/10/ wx9lv7nkh4ha6zaq15nls547t5mh43. Froelich, J. (2021, February 25). Marshal- lese. Central Arkansas Library System En- cyclopedia of Arkansas. Retrieved from https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/ marshallese-5972. Staff Report. (2020, June 15). Compacts of free association: Populations in U.S. areas have grown, with varying reported effects GAO-20-491. United States Government Accountability Office. Retrieved from https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao- 20-491.pdf. Janet Mann serves as the director of the Division of Medical Services for the Arkansas Medicaid program. In this role, she manages the operations for Medic- aid and administers the managed care programs, claims processing, contracts and the fee-for-service program. Prior to becoming director, Janet served as the Arkansas DHS chief financial officer. Earlier, Janet served as deputy administrator for the state of Mississippi Division of Medicaid under Governor Haley Barbour. In addition, she has over a decade of experience in the public healthcare industry at the state and federal level both as an independent con- sultant and in corporate practice. Janet is a certified public accountant. Mary Franklin is the director of the Division of County Operations. She oversees eligibility for the Medic- aid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the Transitional Employment Assistance programs. Mary’s division also administers the Community Service Block Grant, Emergency Solutions Grants and the Refugee Resettlement Program in Arkansas. Mary has spent more than 28 years in the Division of County Operations and had many roles including caseworker, supervisor, county administrator, divi- sion assistant director and chief fiscal officer before being named director in June 2016. Mary attended Ouachita Baptist University, has a Bachelor of Arts in accounting and is a certified public accountant.