Arkansas Center for Health Improvement

What Arkansas Center for Health Improvement does

The Arkansas Center for Health Improvement (ACHI) is a nonpartisan, independent health policy center headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas that functions as the state's principal health data, analytic, and policy development resource for public and private decision makers. It administers the Arkansas Healthcare Transparency Initiative (HTI), which integrates claims-based data from commercial insurers, Medicaid, Medicare, state employee plans, and pharmacy benefit managers with non-claims-based data from partnering agencies via encrypted linkage IDs, covering 80-85% of Arkansans with healthcare coverage. ACHI publishes interactive dashboards (Healthcare Expenditures, Primary Care Physician Workforce, Telehealth, Medicare Advantage Enrollment, Acute Behavioral Health Events Along the Birthing Journey), policy briefs, and podcasts (Wonks at Work, Healthy Birthing Journey), and operates the G. Richard Smith Fellowship in Health Services and Policy Research.

ACHI's primary stakeholders are Arkansas state legislators, agency officials, healthcare system leaders, academic researchers, and the public; the Arkansas General Assembly, Arkansas Department of Health, Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) function as both governing sponsors and primary beneficiaries. ACHI is statutorily designated as the HTI administrator under the Arkansas Healthcare Transparency Initiative Act (Act 1233 of 2015) and operates under oversight from the Arkansas Insurance Department and a 13-member HTI board with Data Oversight and Scientific Advisory subcommittees. Its quasi-governmental mandate creates durable barriers to competing state-level analytics entrants.

Revenue is derived from three core annual corporate sponsors (Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Arkansas Department of Health, UAMS), competitive federal, state, and philanthropic grants and contracts (including exposure to the $208.8M FY2026 federal Rural Health Transformation Program allocation to Arkansas), and formal data-request services (150+ fulfilled since inception for state agencies, universities, and private organizations). All publications, dashboards, podcasts, and data resources are provided free of charge, and there is no commercial pricing model. Governance is provided by a Health Policy Board of up to 21 voting members plus 2 ex-officio members, with an Administrative Committee composed of chief administrators from each sponsoring institution providing financial and executive oversight.

Name

Arkansas Center for Health Improvement

Legal name

Arkansas Center for Health Improvement

Website

https://achi.net

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

ACHI is a nonpartisan, independent health policy center administering Arkansas's All-Payer Claims Database and Healthcare Transparency Initiative, producing interactive dashboards, evidence-based research, and policy analysis for state policymakers, healthcare leaders, researchers, and the public.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Health Policy Research

NAICS

Administration of Public Health Programs (923120), Administration of Public Health Programs (92312), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (518)

SIC

Hospital & Medical Service Plans (6324), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

Healthcare Utilization, Claims & Administrative Data Analytics (HLAJAJAK)

akta.pro secondary industries

Payer-Provider Data Exchange (X12, prior auth, claims/clinical attachment) (HLACABAK), Public Health & Immunization Data Exchange (ELR, case reporting, registry reporting) (HLACABAL), Economic Evaluation & Health Technology Assessment (Public Programs) (HLAJANAL)

Keywords

• Health policy research
• Claims database analytics
• Healthcare transparency data
• Health workforce analysis
• Health data dashboards

Headquarters

HQ city

Little Rock

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations

Revenue model

1. Corporate Sponsorships: Annual support from three corporate sponsors: Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Arkansas Department of Health, and University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. These sponsors provide core funding for ACHI's independent health policy work.
2. Government Grants and Contracts: Grants and contracts awarded for specific projects from federal, state, and philanthropic sources. Includes Arkansas Insurance Department oversight for HTI administration and federal Rural Health Transformation Program funding.
3. Data Request Services: ACHI fulfills data requests from researchers for HTI data usage, overseen by a 13-member board. Since inception, over 150 data requests have been fulfilled for projects by state agencies, universities, and private organizations.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

ACHI operates the Arkansas Healthcare Transparency Initiative (HTI) and the Arkansas All-Payer Claims Database (APCD), providing health data analysis, policy research, and data dashboards for Arkansas healthcare policymakers, government agencies, healthcare organizations, and researchers.

Product overview

ACHI operates as a nonpartisan, independent health policy center that serves as a catalyst for improving the health of Arkansans through evidence-based research, public issue advocacy, and collaborative program development. The organization functions as a platform centered around the Arkansas Healthcare Transparency Initiative (HTI) and its core component, the Arkansas All-Payer Claims Database (APCD), which integrates healthcare data from multiple public and private sources. ACHI's product portfolio includes interactive dashboards (Arkansas Healthcare Expenditures, Primary Care Physician Workforce, Telehealth in Arkansas, Acute Behavioral Health Events Along the Birthing Journey, Medicare Advantage Enrollment), data-driven podcasts (Healthy Birthing Journey, Wonks at Work), research publications, and the G. Richard Smith Fellowship program. The organization also maintains supplementary data assets including the HTI Mother/Infant Crosswalk and HTI Diabetes Analytic Data Mart.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Arkansas Healthcare Transparency Initiative (HTI): A unified source for healthcare data in Arkansas that integrates claims-based data from commercial insurers and public payers with non-claims-based health data, administered by ACHI.
• Arkansas All-Payer Claims Database (APCD)
• Wonks at Work Podcast
• Healthy Birthing Journey Podcast
• G. Richard Smith, MD, Fellowship in Health Services and Policy Research
• Dr. Tom Bruce Arkansas Health Impact Award
• 100 Arkansans Initiative
• Healthy Choices
• Healthy Communities
• Healthy Systems
• AR Health Matters Calendar

Products and services

• Arkansas Healthcare Transparency Initiative (HTI) Statutorily designated health data transparency initiative operated by ACHI that provides healthcare data analytics, interactive dashboards, and policy research for Arkansas state government, healthcare organizations, and researchers.
• Arkansas All-Payer Claims Database (APCD) Comprehensive multi-payer claims database covering approximately 80-85% of Arkansas residents, used for healthcare cost, utilization, quality, and outcomes analysis.
• Health Policy Research and Analysis Services Independent, nonpartisan policy research and analysis services providing evidence-based insights for Arkansas healthcare policymakers, government agencies, and healthcare industry leaders.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 150 HTI data requests fulfilled for research projects since inception, bringing in millions of research dollars into Arkansas
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability1 record

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered minor, core and major.

• Governor Asa Hutchinson's OfficeminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 29 November 2022Stephanie Blevins joined ACHI from the Governor's office where she served as Northwest Arkansas district representative, facilitating collaboration on regional health initiatives.
• Arkansas Insurance DepartmentcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2015HTI is under the authority of the Arkansas Insurance Department (AID), with ACHI serving as the statutorily designated administrator. AID provides oversight of data requests and outputs.
• Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue ShieldcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOne of three corporate sponsors providing annual support for ACHI's core areas of work. The Administrative Committee includes their chief administrator for governance oversight.
• Arkansas Department of HealthcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCorporate sponsor providing annual support and partner in health data initiatives. Secretary of Health serves on the Administrative Committee for governance oversight.
• University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCorporate sponsor and key partner in health policy research. Interim Chancellor serves on the Administrative Committee. ACHI's President Emeritus Dr. Joseph Thompson is a professor at UAMS.
• Arkansas Healthcare Transparency Initiative BoardcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner13-member board that advises AID on oversight of data requests and data outputs. Includes Data Oversight Committee and Scientific Advisory Committee subcommittees.
• Northwest Arkansas Council - Health Care Transformation DivisionmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerACHI supports the Health Care Transformation Division of the Northwest Arkansas Council with nationally recognized data, analytics, and policy expertise.
• Healthcare Data Submitters (insurers, Medicaid, Medicare, pharmacy benefit managers, etc.)coreTechnology or IntegrationEntities that submit claims and enrollment data to the HTI include commercial insurers, Medicaid, Medicare, state employee plans, pharmacy benefit managers, third-party administrators, managed care organizations, and the Arkansas Department of Health.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Others

• National Association of Health Data Organizations (NAHDO): National membership organization supporting state APCDs and health-data organizations; ACHI's Director of Information Systems Architecture served as board chair. Industry-association counterpart for the ecosystem ACHI operates within.

Direct peers

• Oregon Health Care Quality Corporation: Independent nonprofit that aggregates multi-payer claims and clinical data in Oregon to produce public quality and cost reports — same multi-payer transparency model as ACHI in a different state.
• Minnesota Community Measurement: Nonprofit that collects, analyzes, and reports on healthcare quality, cost, and equity data across Minnesota, using multi-payer data assets for public reporting and policy support — analogous to ACHI's HTI/multi-payer model.
• Massachusetts Health Quality Partners (MHQP): Independent Massachusetts-based nonprofit that aggregates clinical and claims data to produce provider-performance reporting and healthcare transparency analytics, structurally similar to ACHI's APCD-driven policy work.
• Center for Improving Value in Health Care (CIVHC): Colorado's independent, nonpartisan nonprofit that administers the Colorado All-Payer Claims Database and produces comparable interactive dashboards and policy analyses. Closest functional analog to ACHI in another state.

Broad incumbents

• Manatt Health: Healthcare-focused consulting and policy-advisory practice that provides APCD and state-data-asset strategy work, referenced on ACHI's 'Wonks at Work' podcast as a national expert on the same data-infrastructure domain.
• Urban Institute: Major nonprofit policy-research organization that conducts health-policy and health-data analytics for federal, state, and philanthropic sponsors — operates a broader portfolio but with overlapping policy-research methodology.
• Mathematica: Large, established policy-research and data-analytics firm working on health, Medicaid, and human-services policy for federal and state agencies, with comparable federal grant funding flows and evidence-based research outputs.

Regional players

• Catalyst for Payment Reform: National nonprofit focused on healthcare price and quality transparency with a state-grant model; comparable mission of using claims data to inform purchasers and policymakers, though with a payment-reform rather than policy-center lens.

Emerging players

• Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform: Independent policy center focused on healthcare payment reform and rural healthcare access, frequently cited in ACHI's own reporting (e.g., the 44% rural labor-and-delivery unit at-risk report). Operates in an adjacent policy-analytics niche.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/achi_net
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UC9VXu_UXjTqZsliUn7hOC6w
• Facebookfacebook.com/ARCenterForHealthImprovement
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/arcenterforhealthimprovement

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Arkansas Center for Health Improvement