LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) An Arkansas judge has again ordered the state Department of Human Services to stop using an algorithm to award hours of home-based care to disabled Medicaid recipients.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports that Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen also ordered the department’s attorneys to explain at a Wednesday hearing why the agency shouldn’t be held in contempt of court for violating an order from just last week.
Griffen’s May 14 ruling barred the agency from using the algorithm until properly adopting an emergency rule governing its use. The department has proposed an emergency rule, but plaintiff Legal Aid of Arkansas alleges the proposal doesn’t meet emergency rulemaking requirements.
The department has used the algorithm since 2016 to award hours of help with home-based care to participants in the ARChoices program.
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