The purpose of this memo is to provide detailed guidance for the operation of district level ARMAC programs.

The Arkansas Medicaid Administrative Claiming (ARMAC) program is a federally funded program administered by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). This program provides school districts the ability to receive reimbursement for certain administrative services that address student health needs. ARMAC is the state’s online Random Moment Time Study (RMTS) system used to identify and categorize Medicaid administrative activities performed by Arkansas public school employees. The time study serves as the basis for developing claims for the cost of administrative activities that may be reimbursed by Medicaid. The ARMAC system utilizes the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) eFinance system to pre-populate the ARMAC database with District ARMAC Coordinator information and District ARMAC Participant salary and benefits costs. The DESE will prepopulate the ARMAC system at the beginning of each school year using information generated from eFinance.

Program details provided in this memo are intended for district administrators, business managers, and ARMAC Coordinators. This guidance should be taken into consideration for the 2021-2022 school year.

ARMAC Coordinator Designation and Responsibilities

Each participating school district is required to designate a district employee to act as the ARMAC Coordinator. This designation must be made using the MAC-C Job Assignment Code in eFinance. Districts must complete the ARMAC Coordinator designation no later than Tuesday, August 17, 2021. Only one ARMAC Coordinator may be designated per district. For more detailed guidance regarding the MAC-C job assignment designation in eFinance, see the attachment entitled APSCN 5.2 Procedural Outline.

The key responsibility of the District ARMAC Coordinator is to oversee the daily operation of the ARMAC program and to ensure regulatory compliance. ARMAC Coordinator duties include:

• Working with the district superintendent and business manager to develop the ARMAC participant roster, according to the following criteria:

• ARMAC participants must be employed by the district.
• ARMAC participants must be, at least, partially paid from a state and/or local funding source.
• ARMAC participants should include those employees whose job duties encompass some type of administrative oversight of health services for students.
• Ensuring the district’s ARMAC participant roster is updated in eFinance no later than Tuesday, August 17, 2021. *For more detailed guidance regarding recommended ARMAC participants, see attachment ARMAC Roster Recommendations.

• Acting as the liaison to DESE for ensuring district participants are compliant with the ARMAC program requirements, such as completing the ARMAC training and responding to ARMAC random moments within the allotted timeframe. 
  • The Coordinator must oversee the submission of the signed quarterly ARMAC Reimbursement Certification form to DESE. 
• Submitting the ARMAC Participant Adjustment Form to DESE when participant information changes throughout the school year, within five (5) days of the occurred change. 
  • The purpose of the ARMAC Participant Adjustment Form is to make changes to the district’s roster throughout the school year after the initial quarter one pre-population. 
  • Districts should utilize the participant adjustment form to add and remove participants or to change information for existing participants (i.e. email, salary, benefits, funding source). 
  • The coordinator should ensure any roster changes submitted to DESE are also reflected in eFinance.
  • Adjustment forms should be emailed to Michele Roberts, DESE ARMAC Specialist, at ade.armacspecialist@ade.arkansas.gov, within five (5) business days of the occurred change. See the attached ARMAC Participant Adjustment Form.
• Retaining any records pertaining to the responses provided by participants to the random moment time study, as well as all ARMAC official documentation including the participant quarterly roster, quarterly reimbursement certifications, and ARMAC participant adjustments.

ARMAC Participant Designation and Responsibilities

Each participating school district is required to designate all district employees who are, at least, partially paid from a state funding source and whose job duties most likely include some type of administrative oversight of health services for students as ARMAC participants on the ARMAC Participant Roster. This designation must be made using the MAC-P Job Assignment Code in eFinance. Districts must complete the ARMAC Participant Roster designation for quarter one (1) no later than Tuesday, August 17, 2021. For more detailed guidance regarding the MAC-P job assignment designation in eFinance, see the attachment entitled APSCN 5.2 Procedural Outline.

ARMAC roster submissions are not accepted via email nor hardcopy. DESE will utilize eFinance to access each district’s participant roster information. DESE will extract the following information for each participant designated by the district:

• Employee ID
• Job Assignment Code
• Job Description
• Employee Last Name
• Employee First Name
• Employee Email Address
• Budget Unit
• Salary
• Benefits
• Primary Class Title
• Job Class Code

ARMAC Mandatory Participant & Coordinator Training

Federal CMS guidelines require all ARMAC participants and coordinators to complete a program specific training, annually. On Monday, August 23, 2021, the DESE will pre-populate the ARMAC database for quarter one (1) with information provided via eFinance. All ARMAC participants and coordinators, statewide, should receive an email from the ARMAC system containing a unique link, which may only be used by the intended recipient. The email will prompt the recipient to complete the online ARMAC training module. Each participant will be required to successfully complete the ARMAC test prior to being included in the random moment time study. Participants not successfully completing the ARMAC training by Friday, August 27, 2021, will not be included in the quarter one (1) Random Moment Time Study. ARMAC Coordinators not successfully completing the ARMAC training by Friday, August 27, 2021, will deem the district ineligible for the quarter one (1) Random Moment Time Study.

The DESE will update the ARMAC database with participant adjustment information received from districts each quarter. Throughout the school year, newly designated ARMAC participants and coordinators will receive an email from the ARMAC system containing a unique link, which may only be used by the intended recipient. Participants not successfully completing the ARMAC training within the designated testing period for each quarter, will not be included in the quarter Random Moment Time Study. See the 2021-2022 Timeline portion of this memo for quarterly testing period date information.

ARMAC Roster Verification COGNOS Report

On Monday, August 23, 2021, the DESE will upload information generated from eFinance using the ARMAC Roster Verification Report into the ARMAC system.

Participating districts may make final participant adjustments to the district roster prior to each quarter beginning. See the 2021-2022 ARMAC Timeline portion of this memo for the quarterly verification dates. Districts should utilize the COGNOS report entitled ARMAC Roster Verification Report to assist with the roster verification process. ARMAC Coordinators and district business managers should review the following information provided on the COGNOS report for accuracy:

• The participant list is accurate (i.e. ensure all deactivated participants are no longer listed on the report and new participants appear on the report);
• All participant budget units are correct and 100% federally paid employees are not included;
• All participant e-mail addresses are correct; and
• All participant Class Titles are correct.

The ARMAC Roster Verification Report should be generated during the quarterly roster verification period. A copy of the ARMAC Roster Verification Report should be kept on file. 

NOTE: the ARMAC roster is generated from the employee pay rate screen in eFinance.

ARMAC Cost COGNOS Report

On October 1, 2021, DESE will upload participant salary and benefit costs information generated from eFinance using September payroll data into the ARMAC system.

The ARMAC Cost Report should be generated by the district each quarter, one day after the ARMAC quarter end date.  See the 2021-2022 ARMAC Timeline portion of this memo. A copy of the ARMAC Cost Report should be kept on file.

ARMAC Dashboard Participant Status Report

The DESE will determine which employee costs to include in the quarterly claim based on each participant’s active status at the time moments are generated. Districts should download a copy of the ARMAC Participant Status Report from the ARMAC Dashboard each quarter on the random moment release date. See the 2021-2022 Timeline portion of this memo for the random moment release dates. This report will assist districts with verifying claimable employee costs at the close of each quarter.

Participants>Export Excel (open the file using the prompts on the bottom left portion of the screen)

2021-2022 ARMAC Timeline

ARMAC Webinar Sessions

The Division of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) School Health Services Unit has scheduled the following webinars to review the ARMAC program updates provided in this Commissioner’s memo. ARMAC Coordinators and district business managers are encouraged to attend a webinar session. Select a date below to register for the preferred webinar session.

Attachments