Arizona Alliance For Community Health Centers v. Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System

Opinion

WO

Arizona Alliance For Community Health Centers, et al., Plaintiffs, No. CV-19-00517-TUC-JGZ v. Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, et al.,

Defendants. Upon receiving the Ninth Circuit’s mandate on December 1, 2022, (Doc. 84), and upon considering its September 2, 2022 opinion, (Doc. 80), which held in relevant part: [T]he Medicaid Act [establishes] that “FQHC services” are a mandatory benefit that Defendants must cover and for which Plaintiffs have a right to reimbursement under § 1396a(bb) that is enforceable under § 1983. (Id. at 14); Douglas held that the mandatory benefit of “FQHC services” under § 1396d(a)(2)(C) includes services furnished by chiropractors, dentists, optometrists, and podiatrists. (Id. at 17 (citing Cal. Ass’n of Rural Health Clinics v. Douglas, 738 F.3d 1007 (9th Cir. 2013)); Arizona’s categorical exclusion of all adult chiropractic services violates the unambiguous text of § 1396d(a)(2) of the Medicaid Act, which Douglas interpreted as including “services furnished by . . . chiropractors.” (Id. at 18); 1 IT IS HEREBY ORDERED: Defendants Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) and Carmen Heredia, in her official capacity, are permanently enjoined from enacting or applying a “categorical exclusion of all adult chiropractic services” from AHCCCS’s coverage of the “Federally-qualified health center services” mandatory benefit, which “Defendants must cover and for which Plaintiffs have a right to reimbursement under § 1396a(bb).” Dated this 10th day of April, 2023. ? * pote Soipe ; Honorable Jennife □□□□□ United States District Judge

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