On April 4, a federal judge granted a temporary bar on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) terminations that went into effect on March 24 for multiple federal grants. These grants include the Substance Use Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery Services Block Grant (SUPTRS, formerly known as SUBG), the Mental Health Block Grant (MHBG), and the Community Health Workers for COVID Response and Resilient Communities grants (CDCCCR), which are funded by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).
This temporary restraining order is in place until the Court decides on a more permanent preliminary injunction in the lawsuit, which will be set for hearing in the next couple of weeks. However, the Department of Justice has filed an appeal of the temporary restraining order and until the Court rules on this appeal, the status of the lawsuit remains unknown.
AHCCCS is currently assessing the overall impact of this temporary restraining order, ongoing items in multistate litigation, and how it affects the roughly $50 million in grant funds that are included in this lawsuit. At this time, the Stop Work Orders that grantees received will remain in place, and AHCCCS strongly encourages recipients to develop a plan for their reconciliation activities in light of the uncertainty around the current status of the lawsuit. Additional information will be released as it becomes available.
