School districts qualify for enrollment in the Arkansas Medicaid Personal Care Program for reimbursement of primarily “hands‐on” assistance by a personal care paraprofessional: bathing, bladder and bowel requirements, dressing, eating, personal hygiene, mobility and ambulation, medication administration, housekeeping, laundry, and shopping. 

Personal care services provide hands-on assistance to children with physical dependency needs. Personal care services must be medically necessary and authorized by a child’s physician. In order to bill for personal care, students must have an Individual Education Plan (IEP). All personal care services must be supervised by a registered nurse.

Personal Care Training and Certification

Paraprofessionals providing Personal Care assistance must be trained and certified by the ADE. All paraprofessionals providing Personal Care assistance must be assigned job-assignment 761 in eFinance.

Personal Care Prior Authorization

Prior to Medicaid claiming for a student, the district’s registered nurse must obtain prior authorization via the DMS-618 Medicaid form, annually. For prior authorization, the completed DMS-618 must be sent to Arkansas Foundation of Medical Care (AFMC) for approval of prior authorization of services. School must submit the form via the MMIS portal. See the following Medicaid Job Aid for instructions. 

Job Aid:  Personal Care Prior Authorization Instructions

For more information, please contact: