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ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Seventh Legislature, Second Regular Session
traditional healing services; AHCCCS
Purpose
Allows traditional healing services covered by the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) or the Arizona Long-Term Care System (ALTCS) to be delivered through an urban Indian organization.
Background
AHCCCS contracts with health plans and providers to deliver medically necessary services to eligible members. Covered services include hospital care, physician and diagnostic services, prescription drugs, medical equipment and supplies, preventive screenings, family planning, transportation, hospice care and other specified medical services (A.R.S. § 36-2907).
ALTCS is AHCCCS’ program for members who require institutional or long-term care services. ALTCS contractors provide nursing facility care, home and community-based services, case management, behavioral health services, hospice and other covered AHCCCS services to eligible members with long-term care needs (A.R.S. § 36-2939).
Laws 2025, Chapter 239 expanded the list of AHCCCS and ALTCS-covered services to include traditional healing services if the services were delivered through the Indian Health Service or a Tribal facility.
Traditional health care practices are described as the sum total of the knowledge, skill and practices based on the theories, beliefs, and experiences indigenous to different cultures, whether explicable or not, used in the maintenance of health as well as in the prevention, diagnosis, improvement or treatment of physical and mental illness (CMS).
If there is a cost associated with expanding the entities authorized to provide AHCCCS or ALTCS-covered traditional healing services to include urban Indian organizations, there may be a fiscal impact to the state GF.
Provisions
1. Allows traditional healing services covered by AHCCCS or ALTCS to be delivered through an urban Indian organization.
2. Defines urban Indian organization as an urban Indian organization in the state that receives federal Indian Health Services funding.
3. Makes technical changes.
4. Becomes effective on the general effective date.
Prepared by Senate Research
February 16, 2026
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