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 Centers 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 benefit 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 2023-2024 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 Friday, August 11, 2023. 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 Job Assignment-ARMAC Job Codes-20.11. 

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.
• Ensuring the district’s ARMAC participant roster is updated in eFinance no later than August 15, 2023. *For more detailed guidance regarding recommended ARMAC participants, see the attachment ARMAC Roster Recommendations.
• Check with the district technology department to ensure ade.armac@ade.arkansas.gov is marked as a safe sender.
• 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 from eFinance.
• Districts should utilize the participant adjustment form to add and remove participants or to change information for existing participants (i.e. email, salary, benefits). 
• The coordinator should ensure any roster changes submitted to DESE are also reflected in eFinance.
• Adjustment forms should be emailed to the DESE ARMAC Specialist, at ade.armacspecialist@ade.arkansas.gov.  See the attached ARMAC Participant Adjustment Form.
• Retaining any records pertinent 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 should designate all district employees as ARMAC participants in eFinance who are at least partially paid from a state and/or local funding source and whose job duties encompass some type of administrative oversight of health services for students.

This designation must be made using the MAC-P Job Assignment Code in eFinance. Districts must complete the ARMAC Participant Roster designation process for quarter one (1) no later than August 15, 2023. For more detailed guidance regarding the MAC-P job assignment designation in eFinance, see the attachment entitled Job Assignment-ARMAC Job Codes-20.11.

ARMAC roster submissions are not accepted via email or 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 August 15, 2023, the DESE will pre-populate the ARMAC database with coordinator information provided via eFinance.  All ARMAC 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 coordinator to complete the online ARMAC training module. Each coordinator will be required to complete the ARMAC test prior to being included in the random moment time study.  After completing the ARMAC test, coordinators will receive an email to set a password for ARMAC dashboard access.  ARMAC Coordinators not completing the ARMAC training by August 21, 2023, will deem the district ineligible for the quarter one (1) Random Moment Time Study.

On August 21, 2023, the DESE will pre-populate the ARMAC database for quarter one (1) with participant information provided via eFinance. All ARMAC participants, 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 complete the ARMAC test prior to being included in the random moment time study. Participants not completing the ARMAC training by August 25, 2023, will not be included in 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 training/testing link, which may only be used by the intended recipient. Participants not 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 2023-2024 ARMAC Timeline portion of this memo for quarterly testing period date information.

ARMAC Roster Verification COGNOS Report

On August 21, 2023, the DESE will upload information generated from eFinance using the ARMAC Roster Verification COGNOS Report into the ARMAC system.

Participating districts may make participant adjustments to the district roster prior to each quarter using the adjustment form to DESE to ensure ARMAC roster changes submitted to DESE are reflected in eFinance.  See the 2023-2024 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 and Job Codes 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.

File Path:  Team Content>Financial Management System>Personnel>ARMAC>ARMAC Roster Verification Report 

ARMAC Cost COGNOS Report

On October 2, 2023, DESE will upload participant salary and benefit costs information generated from eFinance using September 2023 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 2023-2024 ARMAC Timeline portion of this memo. A copy of the ARMAC Cost Report should be kept on file.

File Path:  Team Content>Financial Management System>Personnel>ARMAC>ARMAC Cost Report 

Note:  Participants without salary and benefit amounts in the ARMAC dashboard will not be included in the Quarter 3 time study.

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 2023-2024 ARMAC 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.

File Path:  Participants>Export Participants (open the file using the prompts on the top right portion of the screen)

2023-2024 ARMAC Timeline

ARMAC Coordinator Webinar Session

The Division of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) School Health Services Unit has scheduled the following webinar sessions to review the ARMAC program updates provided in this commissioner’s memo and coordinator training.  New ARMAC coordinators and district business managers are strongly encouraged to attend one of the August 3rd webinar sessions. Click the date below to register for the preferred webinar session.

Attachments

• Job Assignment-ARMAC Job Codes-20.11
• ARMAC Roster Participant Recommendations
• ARMAC Participant Adjustment Form