# Arkansas prompt-pay law for dental claims

> What is the Arkansas prompt-pay deadline for dental claims, and what interest applies to late payment? Read against the statute text (Ark. Code Ann. §23-66-215; AID Rule 43 (23 CAR pt 15, §15-110)).

URL: https://dentovio.com/dental-prompt-pay-laws/arkansas

Last verified: 2026-08-30

Dentovio is an independent publisher, not a law firm, insurance department, or government agency. This page was drafted with AI assistance and read against the primary sources linked here, with a per-claim verification record — quote, statutory pinpoint, and the URL actually opened — behind every deadline, rate, and applicability verdict in all fifty-one jurisdictions. It has not been reviewed by a credentialed attorney or dental billing specialist. These pages summarize state prompt-pay statutes as read against the official sources on the date shown, focusing on how each statute treats dental claims. Statutes change and their application turns on plan type, contract status, and claim facts. Educational reference only — not legal advice; confirm current law with the state insurance department or a licensed attorney before acting on a specific claim.

## Direct answer

Under Ark. Code Ann. §23-66-215; AID Rule 43 (23 CAR pt 15, §15-110), the Arkansas payment deadline is 30 days (electronic clean claim) and 45 days (clean claim submitted by other means). The rule sets the penalty as the clean-claim payment times 12 percent per annum times the days in the delinquent payment period, divided by 365 — and the delinquent period "begin[s] on the sixty-first day after receipt of the clean claim," for electronic and non-electronic claims alike. Dental applicability: Covered. A self-funded private-employer (ERISA) plan is generally beyond this statute's reach and runs on the federal claims-procedure clock instead — but that comes from the courts reading 29 U.S.C. § 1144, not from its text, and it is not categorical: a self-funded governmental or church plan is not an ERISA plan at all, § 1144(b)(6) leaves multiple employer welfare arrangements open to state insurance law, and nothing in § 1144 bars a state from reaching the third-party administrator or the network contract.

## Payment deadlines

- Electronic claims: 30 days (electronic clean claim)
- Paper claims: 45 days (clean claim submitted by other means)

Arkansas splits the deadline from the penalty. The statute (§23-66-215) sets only a 12 percent per annum penalty "pursuant to rules promulgated by the commissioner"; the deadlines live in Insurance Department Rule 43, codified at 23 CAR §15-110: pay or deny a clean claim within 30 days if it was submitted electronically, or within 45 days if submitted by other means. Claims needing more information run under 23 CAR §15-111. Clean-claim status requires the carrier's published claim-filing fields to be complete.

## Interest and penalties on late payment

The rule sets the penalty as the clean-claim payment times 12 percent per annum times the days in the delinquent payment period, divided by 365 — and the delinquent period "begin[s] on the sixty-first day after receipt of the clean claim," for electronic and non-electronic claims alike. A suspended claim that needed more information runs its penalty from the forty-sixth day after the last requested item was received. The penalty is paid without any action by the claimant, and the statute adds that no demand is necessary. Because the penalty clock starts a month after the pay-or-deny deadline, treating the two as the same date overstates what is owed.

## Does it apply to dental? Dental expressly covered

Covered. The definition of "health insurance contract" excludes disability income policies, long-term care contracts, hospital indemnity contracts, accident-only contracts, and other disability forms that do not directly cover health care treatment expenses — dental is on none of those lists, and a dental plan directly covers treatment expenses. Enforcement practice matches the text: Insurance Department Order 2025-88 (August 2025) resolved a dental practice's untimely-payment complaints against an Arkansas carrier under 23 CAR pt 15. Two limits matter for dental offices: self-insured employer health plans are outside the statute, and an out-of-network provider qualifies as a claimant only while holding a valid assignment from the insured.

## Self-funded (ERISA) plans

A self-funded private-employer (ERISA) dental plan is generally beyond a state prompt-pay statute's reach: 29 U.S.C. § 1144(b)(2)(B) bars a state from deeming such a plan an insurer, and the courts have read that to keep state insurance regulation off it. The statute itself never uses the words self-funded or prompt pay, and the rule is not categorical — a self-funded governmental or church plan is not an ERISA plan at all, so state law can reach it; § 1144(b)(6) leaves multiple employer welfare arrangements open to state insurance law; and nothing in § 1144 addresses state enforcement against the third-party administrator or the network contract. Where the plan is a self-funded ERISA group health plan, the federal claims-procedure deadlines apply instead: a post-service benefit determination within 30 days (one 15-day extension), at least 180 days to appeal, and an appeal decision within 60 days (or two 30-day levels), under 29 CFR 2560.503-1.

## Also in the statute

- In-network providers are claimants in their own right; out-of-network providers need a valid assignment from the patient (§23-66-215(b)(2)).
- Self-insured employer health plans are expressly outside the statute (§23-66-215(b)(2)(C)(i)).
- Hiring a third-party administrator does not relieve a carrier of the penalty (§23-66-215(a)(2)).
- A claimant may ask the commissioner to investigate, and the commissioner must report the findings back (Rule 43 §15).

## Sources (statute text)

- [23 CAR §15-110 — processing of clean claims (Rule 43)](https://codeofarrules.arkansas.gov/Rules/Rule?levelType=section&titleID=23&chapterID=39&subChapterID=187&partID=615&subPartID=4304&sectionID=27087)
- [Arkansas Insurance Department — Rule and Regulation 43 (full text)](https://portal.insurance.arkansas.gov/LegalPubsPublic/Documents/Rules/rule_43.pdf)
- [Act 1454 of 2001 — enacting §23-66-215 (Arkansas General Assembly)](https://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Acts/FTPDocument?path=%2FACTS%2F2001%2FPublic%2F&file=1454.pdf&ddBienniumSession=2001%2FR)

## Related

- [All state prompt-pay pages](https://dentovio.com/dental-prompt-pay-laws/index.html.md)
- [Dental claim denial codes](https://dentovio.com/dental-claim-denial-codes/index.html.md)
- [Payer documentation requirements](https://dentovio.com/dental-claim-documentation/index.html.md)