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How to get help

The Medicaid Services Section is available to help providers with Medicaid-related questions and offer technical assistance with facility waiver requests, billing, rates, or other questions related to the 1115 waiver process:

mpassunit@alaska.gov
(907) 269-3600
Brad.Lentz@alaska.gov

1115 Behavioral Health Medicaid Waiver

Medicaid Section 1115 Demonstration Waivers provide states with flexibility to test new approaches within Medicaid to aid in redesigning and improving their health systems without increasing costs. 

Alaska's 1115 Waiver

1115 behavioral health waiver approved Sept. 3, 2019
Approval of this second component of the waiver paves the way for more behavioral health treatment options for Alaskans and completes the approval process for Alaska’s full 1115 waiver. The substance use disorder component was approved in November 2018 with implementation beginning in July 2019.

Read more in the Sept. 5, 2019 news release

In January 2018, Alaska applied to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for approval of an 1115 behavioral health waiver at the direction of the Alaska Legislature through SB 74. The intent is to create a data-driven, integrated behavioral health system of care for Alaskans experiencing serious mental illness, severe emotional disturbance, substance use disorder (SUD), co-occurring substance use and mental illness, and at-risk families and children.

At the guidance of CMS, the SUD component was broken out separately from the rest of the behavioral health services to move it forward more quickly in response to the growing opioid epidemic. It was approved in November 2018, with the implementation plan receiving approval in March 2019. The behavioral health component is still under review by CMS.

SUD component

Enhanced SUD services begin in July 2019 with a phased-in approach to eligible providers. Details about the goals, outcomes and implementation of the program are available in the documents below

Provider and stakeholder engagement

Section 1115 Waiver Update e-Memos

Look for the “Receive Updates” box at the top of any of these links and enter your email address to become a subscriber to these e-memos.

Roundtables: Feedback on the SUD implementation plan from providers across the state was gathered through roundtables. Topics discussed included screening and assessment tools, ASAM standards and training, expanding the use of pharmacotherapy, evidence-based practices, and qualified addiction professionals.

Infrastructure analysis: This project is evaluating regional hubs to determine if there is sufficient local infrastructure to provide the proposed services for each of the populations groups in the 1115 waiver. Service gap analyses are being developed for each region that compares current services to the proposed 1115 services.