HJAR Nov/Dec 2021

40 NOV / DEC 2021 I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF ARKANSAS MEDICAID COLUMN MEDICAID ARKANSAS Medicaid and the Department of Human Services (DHS) want to make sureArkansans receiving Medicaid services are healthy and safe. These are some of the most vulnerable members of our population — adults with low income, children, pregnant women, people who are age 65 or over, and people with disabilities. Keeping this group of Arkansans healthy is important to DHS under normal life circumstances, but that respon- sibility has become even more critical dur- ing the COVID-19 public health emergency. DHS also wants to make sure Medicaid providers are engaging patients and are properly supported, so Medicaid clients can access the vaccine quickly and easily. As part of this effort, the rate Medicaid provid- ers receive for administering the COVID-19 vaccine has been temporarily increased. For each first- or second-round dose of COVID-19 vaccine that Arkansas Medicaid providers administer through Dec. 31, 2021, Medicaid is paying $100 rather than the usual $40 vaccine administration rate. That means that providers who administer both the first Community” were created with a variety of materials designed to provide accurate facts about the COVID-19 vaccine and why it is so important to get vaccinated. The online toolkits are located on the DHS website at www.ar.gov/mvp. To help increase awareness of and trust in the COVID-19 vaccines in Arkansas’s Med- icaid population, DHS created a toolkit de- signed just for Medicaid recipients. It includes several different resources that people can access and share with others, such as: • A factsheet that provides accurate in- formation about the COVID-19 vac- cines and how to get vaccinated in your community. • Aflyer outlining the important message that the COVID-19 vaccine is safe, easy, free and urgently needed. • A sign that proudly proclaims, “I’m vaccinated. Ask me why!” to encour- age open dialogue about the COVID-19 vaccine and encourage others to get vaccinated. • A poster that clearly provides data on and second doses of the Pfizer or Moderna to a client are paid $200 ($100 for each dose). Getting vaccinated is the best option to protect yourself and others from the COVID-19 virus. That’s why we’ve created the Medicaid Vaccination Program, or MVP, campaign targeted at Medicaid recipients and their families as well as Medicaid providers. The number of Medicaid clients inArkansas who have been fully vaccinated lags behind the rest of the state’s population. We knew that something had to be done to increase awareness of and trust in the COVID-19 vaccine by our Medicaid population. We also knew we had to make sure Medicaid providers were engaging patients and were properly supported soMedicaid clients could access the vaccine quickly and easily. The MVP campaign is designed to accomplish both goals. DHS created a marketing campaign tar- geted at Medicaid clients and their families as well as Medicaid providers. Two sepa- rate but complementary MVP toolkits en- couraging everyone to “Be an MVP in Your Medicaid Vaccination Program (MVP)