AHCCCS (the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System) covers roughly 1.8 million Arizonans through AHCCCS Complete Care (ACC), the state's mandatory statewide managed care program, plus separate long-term-care tracks for elderly/physically disabled members (ALTCS-EPD) and members with developmental disabilities (ALTCS-DDD, run jointly with the Department of Economic Security). Arizona was the last state to adopt Medicaid and has one of the longest-running comprehensive managed care programs in the country, dating to the 1980s.
ACC is mandatory statewide, delivered through a set of full-risk MCOs that vary somewhat by Geographic Service Area (GSA): Banner-University Family Care, Mercy Care, Molina Complete Care of Arizona, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan (contracted as Arizona Physicians IPA, Inc.), Arizona Complete Health-Complete Care Plan, and BCBSAZ Health Choice. Members with a Serious Mental Illness designation additionally interact with a separate ACC-RBHA plan for behavioral health (see behavioral_health). ALTCS-EPD, the elderly/physically-disabled long-term-care track, has been in flux: AHCCCS terminated its December 2023 procurement award to four plans after an August 2025 Administrative Law Judge decision found flaws in the process, instead extending its then-current ALTCS-EPD contracts with Mercy Care, Banner-University Family Care, and UnitedHealthcare Community Plan through September 30, 2026 while a new procurement, published August 4, 2026, determines the program's next contract cycle.
Long-term services and supports are split across two separate tracks, not integrated into a single statewide product. ALTCS-EPD serves elderly and/or physically disabled members through Mercy Care, Banner-University Family Care, and UnitedHealthcare Community Plan under contracts extended through September 30, 2026 pending a new procurement (see managed_care). ALTCS-DDD serves members with developmental disabilities, coordinated jointly with the Arizona Department of Economic Security's Division of Developmental Disabilities (DES/DDD), a structurally distinct arrangement from ALTCS-EPD's MCO-based model. Dual-eligible members generally receive Medicaid LTSS through whichever of these two tracks applies to their population, layered on top of separate Medicare coverage.
Partially integrated into managed care
Behavioral health for members with a Serious Mental Illness (SMI) designation is carved out to a separate ACC-RBHA (Regional Behavioral Health Agreement) plan, organized by three Geographic Service Areas: Mercy Care (Central GSA), Arizona Complete Health-Complete Care Plan (South GSA), and Care1st Health Plan (North GSA). Tribal Regional Behavioral Health Authorities (TRBHAs) serve American Indian members separately. Non-SMI behavioral health for the general ACC population is delivered as an in-plan benefit by each member's regular ACC health plan, not carved out; an SMI member can need to navigate as many as four different care systems (physical health MCO, ACC-RBHA, and potentially ALTCS or tribal systems) to get full coverage.
Carved out
Dental is delivered as an in-plan benefit through each member's own ACC health plan rather than a single statewide carve-out vendor; each MCO maintains its own contracted dental network. Arizona has no single statewide dental administrator comparable to other states' FFS dental vendors, plausibly reflecting its near-universal managed care enrollment, which leaves little FFS dental population to administer separately.
Pharmacy is carved in to managed care, but administered through each plan's own PBM rather than a single statewide vendor: Arizona Complete Health and Care1st (as ACC-RBHAs) use Express Scripts, Mercy Care's RBHA line uses CVS/Caremark, and the Tribal RBHAs use OptumRx. All plans are bound to AHCCCS's own uniform AHCCCS Drug List and AHCCCS Behavioral Health Drug List, maintained by the AHCCCS Pharmacy and Therapeutics (P&T) Committee, so formulary decisions are centrally governed even though claims processing is decentralized by plan.
Non-emergency medical transportation is delivered as an in-plan benefit by each ACC health plan for its own managed care members. Fee-for-service NEMT runs through a separate provider-billing structure (a Daily Trip Report process) rather than a single named broker. Arizona has no single statewide NEMT vendor comparable to other states' broker-based models.
Providers and health plans interact with AHCCCS primarily through the AHCCCS Solutions Center, a Customer Service System that is part of the agency's ongoing Medicaid Enterprise System Modernization Program. Members apply for and manage coverage through Health-e-Arizona Plus (HEAplus), the state's eligibility and benefits portal shared with SNAP and TANF.
Last updated: Aug 29, 2026
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