Alaska recognizes peer support as a distinct behavioral health workforce that uses lived experience to help individuals and families pursue recovery, wellness, community connection, and self-determination.
The state has developed a formal certification structure through the Alaska Commission for Behavioral Health Certification, or ACBHC, under contract with the Alaska Department of Health Division of Behavioral Health.
Unlike many states that rely on one statewide peer credential, Alaska uses a tiered certification system that includes Peer Support Associate and Peer Support Professional levels. Alaska also maintains a separate Traditional Peer Support Professional certification pathway designed to recognize Indigenous approaches, traditional healing, culture, and community knowledge.
Alaska Medicaid covers certain peer-delivered behavioral health services when they are furnished through eligible providers and in accordance with applicable service, staff qualification, supervision, documentation, and billing requirements.
Coverage does not mean that every certified peer may independently enroll and bill Alaska Medicaid.
Alaska Peer Support Quick Facts
Category | Alaska overview |
|---|---|
State Medicaid program | Alaska Medicaid |
Medicaid coverage | Certain peer support and recovery support services are reimbursable through eligible behavioral health providers |
Primary peer credentialing body | Alaska Commission for Behavioral Health Certification |
State behavioral health agency | Alaska Department of Health, Division of Behavioral Health |
Entry credential | Peer Support Associate |
Advanced credentials | Peer Support Professional I, II, and III |
Indigenous peer pathway | Traditional Peer Support Associate and Traditional Peer Support Professional I, II, and III |
Lived experience | Behavioral health recovery or family experience may qualify depending on credential |
Recovery requirement | Current ACBHC manual requires one year of recovery for several professional certification levels |
Recertification | Every two years |
Medicaid peer support code | H0038 and applicable modifiers for certain state-plan peer services |
Family peer codes | H0038-HR and H0038-HS appear in current Alaska Medicaid rate materials |
Broader recovery support | Community Recovery Support Services may use H2021 with applicable modifiers in waiver services |
Common workplaces | Behavioral health agencies, SUD programs, Tribal health organizations, community programs, crisis services, recovery organizations, rural behavioral health programs |
Major state agencies | Alaska Department of Health, Division of Behavioral Health, Alaska Medicaid |
Last reviewed | August 2026 |
What Is Peer Support?
Peer support is assistance provided by someone whose own relevant lived experience informs how they support another person or family.
Alaska’s certification program defines a peer support provider as a person in recovery from a behavioral health issue, or a family member of a person in recovery, who supports people with similar experiences in their own recovery journey.
Lived experience may involve:
- Mental health challenges
- Substance use
- Behavioral health treatment
- Recovery
- Family caregiving
- Navigating behavioral health systems
- Community and cultural experiences relevant to recovery
Peer support emphasizes:
- Hope
- Recovery
- Self-determination
- Mutuality
- Respect
- Personal choice
- Strengths
- Community participation
- Cultural responsiveness
- Recovery capital
- Self-advocacy
- Natural supports
Peer professionals may work alongside clinicians, case managers, behavioral health aides, social workers, nurses, physicians, substance use counselors, and other healthcare professionals.
The peer role remains distinct because its primary expertise comes from lived experience rather than clinical authority.
Common Peer Support Activities
Depending on the organization and service, peer workers may:
- Build trusting relationships
- Share lived experience intentionally
- Help individuals identify recovery goals
- Support wellness planning
- Promote self-advocacy
- Connect people with community resources
- Support treatment engagement
- Help people navigate behavioral health systems
- Facilitate peer groups
- Support transitions between services
- Build natural supports
- Help individuals develop recovery capital
- Support community participation
- Assist with employment, education, housing, and other recovery goals
- Provide family peer support
- Support people following behavioral health crises
- Help people identify multiple pathways of recovery
- Document peer services when required
Peer professionals generally do not diagnose mental health or substance use disorders, prescribe medication, conduct psychotherapy, or present themselves as licensed clinicians unless they independently hold an applicable professional license and are acting within that licensed role.
How Peer Support Is Organized in Alaska
Alaska has one of the more structured tiered peer certification systems in the country.
The Alaska Commission for Behavioral Health Certification currently maintains two parallel certification families.
Peer Support Professional Pathway
The standard pathway includes:
- Peer Support Associate
- Peer Support Professional I
- Peer Support Professional II
- Peer Support Professional III
Traditional Peer Support Professional Pathway
The culturally specific pathway includes:
- Traditional Peer Support Associate
- Traditional Peer Support Professional I
- Traditional Peer Support Professional II
- Traditional Peer Support Professional III
The Alaska Department of Health describes the Traditional Peer Support certification as a specialized pathway developed for Alaska Native, Native American, and Indigenous professionals in recognition of traditional healing and culture.
The levels differ in areas such as:
- Required training
- Work experience
- Practicum experience
- Supervision
- References
- Leadership experience
- Education
- Certification level
A person should not assume that qualification for one level automatically satisfies the requirements for another.
Source: Alaska Department of Health Source: Alaska Commission for Behavioral Health Certification
Alaska Peer Support Associate
The Peer Support Associate is the entry-level ACBHC peer certification.
ACBHC’s current non-degree certification matrix identifies approximately 50 hours of required training for the Associate level.
Required content includes:
- A DBH-approved Introduction to Peer Support course
- Ethics
- Confidentiality
- Infectious disease and HIV/AIDS education
The current matrix identifies the introductory peer course as 37.5 hours, with additional required ethics, confidentiality, and infectious-disease education.
Unlike higher professional levels, the Associate credential does not require prior peer work experience under the current ACBHC framework.
Peer Support Associate Training
Current ACBHC materials list:
- Introduction to Peer Support, at least 37.5 hours
- Ethics, 3 hours
- Confidentiality, 3 hours
- Infectious Diseases/HIV/AIDS, 6 hours
Applicants should verify the current training guide and application because ACBHC requirements may be updated.
Peer Support Professional I
Peer Support Professional I is the first professional-level credential in Alaska’s tiered system.
The current non-degree matrix requires 65 total training hours, consisting of the Associate requirements plus 15 additional hours selected from approved peer-related subject areas.
Topics may include:
- Recovery principles
- Communication
- Suicide prevention
- Harm reduction
- Crisis support
- Cultural competency and humility
- Trauma-informed care
- Recovery action planning
- Wellness and health management
- Motivational interviewing
- Documentation
- Criminal justice
- Recovery capital
- Recovery advocacy
- Client rights
- Mental health
- Substance use disorders
ACBHC’s peer certification manual states that Peer Support Professional I applicants must meet a recovery requirement and self-attest to their lived experience.
The exact combination of work experience, practicum, education, and training depends on the certification track.
Peer Support Professional II
Peer Support Professional II represents a more advanced level of Alaska peer certification.
Under the current non-degree matrix, PSP II requires the prior-level requirements plus additional education for a total of approximately 115 training hours.
The additional training focuses on subjects such as:
- Recovery practice
- Crisis support
- Harm reduction
- Cultural humility
- Trauma-informed care
- Documentation
- Recovery capital
- Advocacy
- Wellness
- Behavioral health systems
The credential also carries increased experience and professional-reference expectations.
Peer Support Professional III
Peer Support Professional III is the highest level in Alaska’s standard peer certification pathway.
Under the current non-degree matrix, PSP III requires approximately 155 total training hours.
The highest level adds training in areas including:
- Supervision
- Leadership
- Supervising peer workers
- Advanced elective topics
This creates an important distinction from states where peer supervision is handled entirely through a separate credential or clinical profession.
Alaska’s certification framework explicitly builds leadership and supervision preparation into its advanced peer pathway.
Recertification
Alaska peer certifications must generally be renewed every two years.
Current ACBHC matrices identify renewal education requirements including:
- Updated ethics training
- Confidentiality training
- Continuing education electives
The current non-degree matrix identifies:
- 3 hours of updated ethics
- 3 hours of confidentiality
- 9 hours of elective continuing education
Organizations employing peer professionals should therefore track:
- Certification level
- Original certification date
- Renewal date
- Ethics education
- Confidentiality training
- Continuing education
- Work experience
- Supervision documentation
- Advancement between peer levels
Source: Alaska Commission for Behavioral Health Certification
Traditional Peer Support Professionals
One of the most distinctive features of Alaska’s peer workforce is its Traditional Peer Support Professional certification pathway.
The pathway was developed to recognize Indigenous culture, traditional healing, community relationships, and lived experience.
Alaska Department of Health specifically describes Traditional Peer Support certification as a specialized certification developed for Alaska Natives, Native Americans, and Indigenous professionals.
What Is a Traditional Peer Support Professional?
ACBHC describes a Traditional Peer Support Professional as an Indigenous person with relevant behavioral health lived experience, or in some cases a family member supporting someone experiencing mental health or substance use challenges.
Traditional peer support may incorporate:
- Culture
- Traditional values
- Community relationships
- Elders
- Cultural humility
- Traditional approaches to healing
- Village knowledge
- Community advocacy
- Suicide prevention
- Recovery support
- Behavioral health navigation
Current ACBHC materials state that Traditional Peer Support Professionals should be respected by elders and in good standing within their communities.
Traditional Peer Support Professional Activities
Depending on the role, a Traditional Peer Support Professional may:
- Honor traditional knowledge
- Support culturally grounded recovery
- Advocate for community members
- Serve as a positive role model
- Support individuals with mental health challenges
- Support individuals with substance use disorders
- Provide suicide-prevention and crisis support
- Serve as a village resource
- Incorporate culturally relevant approaches
- Help people connect with traditional and community supports
- Promote behavioral health recovery
- Support individuals using culturally appropriate methods
Traditional Peer Support Professional I Requirements
Current ACBHC application materials for Traditional Peer Support Professional I identify requirements that include:
- Self-attested lived experience or qualifying family experience
- Relevant recovery status
- At least 1,000 hours of peer support experience with an organization providing behavioral health support
- 25 hours of documented direct supervision
- Required peer-support training
- Ethics
- Confidentiality
- Other approved behavioral health and peer education
Higher levels require progressively greater training, work experience, supervision, and leadership preparation.
Organizations serving Alaska Native communities should review the Traditional Peer Support pathway rather than assuming that the standard PSP credential is the only appropriate route.
Peer Support and Behavioral Health Aides
Alaska also has a Behavioral Health Aide and Practitioner workforce, especially within Alaska Native Tribal health systems.
Behavioral Health Aides and Peer Support Professionals are not automatically the same role.
Behavioral Health Aide certification has a separate pathway and scope, while peer certification is administered through ACBHC.
An employee may potentially hold multiple relevant credentials, but organizations should not treat the credential categories as interchangeable for Medicaid, workforce qualification, or documentation purposes.
Is Peer Support Covered by Alaska Medicaid?
Yes.
Alaska Medicaid reimburses certain peer support services through eligible behavioral health providers.
Current Alaska Medicaid rate materials recognize:
- Peer Support Services - Individual
- Peer Support Services - Family with the patient present
- Peer Support Services - Family without the patient present
The principal state-plan peer support code is H0038.
Current modifier structures include:
- H0038 for individual peer support
- H0038-HR for family peer support with the patient present
- H0038-HS for family peer support without the patient present
Peer services are generally billed in 15-minute units under the current state-plan rate structure.
Organizations should verify the current July 1, 2026 rate sheets because reimbursement amounts can change annually.
Source: Alaska Department of Health, Division of Behavioral Health
Community Recovery Support Services
Alaska’s behavioral health Medicaid structure also includes Community Recovery Support Services, commonly abbreviated CRSS in state materials.
This should not be confused with a peer credential called CRSS in some other states.
In Alaska, Community Recovery Support Services are a broader Medicaid service category under the behavioral health reform 1115 waiver.
Depending on the service, coding may include:
- H2021 with applicable modifiers for individual services
- H2021-HQ with applicable modifiers for group services
The distinction matters.
An organization should not assume that:
Peer Support Services = Community Recovery Support Services
They may overlap operationally but have different service definitions, staff qualifications, payment rules, documentation standards, and codes.
Behavioral Health Reform 1115 Waiver
Alaska has used its Behavioral Health Reform 1115 Medicaid waiver to expand behavioral health services beyond the traditional state-plan structure.
The waiver includes recovery-oriented and community-based services that may involve peer workers.
Current state resources include separate 1115 service and rate charts, with rates updated effective July 1, 2026.
Organizations should identify whether a peer service is being billed under:
- State-plan behavioral health services
- 1115 substance use disorder services
- 1115 behavioral health services
- Another Medicaid program
- A state or federal grant
- Tribal reimbursement structures
The answer determines which service requirements apply.
Can an Individual Peer Bill Alaska Medicaid Directly?
Organizations should not assume that an independently certified peer can enroll and bill Medicaid directly simply because peer support is a covered service.
Alaska Medicaid peer services are tied to:
- Eligible behavioral health providers
- Alaska Medicaid enrollment
- Division of Behavioral Health requirements
- Staff qualifications
- Service-plan requirements
- Supervision
- Documentation
- Covered procedure codes
- Recipient eligibility
- Program requirements
Organizations should determine:
- Who is the enrolled billing provider?
- What provider category is authorized to deliver the service?
- What credential must the peer worker hold?
- What level of peer certification is required?
- What supervision is required?
- Is the service a state-plan or waiver service?
- What procedure code applies?
- Which modifiers apply?
- Is authorization required?
- What documentation must support the claim?
Family Peer Support
Alaska Medicaid explicitly recognizes family peer support.
Current state-plan rate materials include:
- H0038-HR: Peer Support Services - Family, with patient present
- H0038-HS: Peer Support Services - Family, without patient present
This makes Alaska notable because family peer support is explicitly identifiable within the reimbursement structure.
Family peers may support:
- Parents
- Caregivers
- Family members
- People supporting an individual with behavioral health needs
Potential activities may include:
- Helping families navigate behavioral health systems
- Supporting family voice and choice
- Connecting families with resources
- Helping caregivers participate in treatment planning
- Providing emotional support based on relevant lived experience
- Supporting transitions
- Helping families understand services
- Promoting self-advocacy
- Developing natural supports
Family peer support remains distinct from psychotherapy, clinical family treatment, case management, and legal representation.
Peer Support Scope of Practice in Alaska
Alaska peer professionals provide recovery-oriented, nonclinical behavioral health support grounded in lived experience.
Activities Commonly Associated With Peer Support
Depending on the program, peer workers may:
- Build supportive relationships
- Share lived experience intentionally
- Promote recovery
- Support individual goals
- Promote self-determination
- Assist with wellness planning
- Support treatment engagement
- Connect participants with resources
- Help people navigate systems
- Support community participation
- Facilitate peer groups
- Support transitions
- Encourage self-advocacy
- Build recovery capital
- Support family members
- Assist with crisis recovery
- Provide culturally grounded support
- Document services
- Participate in interdisciplinary teams
Activities Generally Outside the Peer Role
Unless separately licensed or otherwise qualified, peer workers generally should not:
- Diagnose mental health conditions
- Diagnose substance use disorders
- Provide psychotherapy
- Prescribe medication
- Practice medicine
- Represent themselves as licensed clinicians
- Conduct restricted clinical assessments
- Make legal determinations
- Perform tasks outside their competence
- Provide clinical treatment solely because a supervisor delegates it
- Make eligibility decisions reserved for authorized personnel
Supervision of Peer Professionals in Alaska
Supervision is an important component of Alaska’s certification and Medicaid structures.
Current ACBHC certification requirements incorporate supervision and practicum experience at multiple certification levels.
For example, Traditional Peer Support Professional I currently requires documented direct supervision as part of the credentialing process.
Higher certification levels also increase expectations related to professional experience, supervision, and leadership.
At the Medicaid-provider level, organizations must ensure that supervisors meet the requirements of the applicable behavioral health service.
A clinical supervisor should also be competent to supervise peer practice rather than applying a purely clinical model to the peer role.
Types of Peer Supervision
Administrative Supervision
May address:
- Scheduling
- Attendance
- Caseload
- Organizational policies
- Documentation completion
- Performance expectations
- Service requirements
Peer Practice Supervision
May address:
- Intentional use of lived experience
- Mutuality
- Boundaries
- Recovery orientation
- Ethics
- Engagement
- Self-determination
- Cultural humility
- Role fidelity
Clinical Consultation
Clinical professionals may provide consultation when participant needs involve:
- Diagnosis
- Medication
- Clinical risk
- Treatment
- Medical concerns
- Other issues outside peer scope
Clinical consultation should support the peer role rather than convert peer work into clinical practice.
Cultural and Traditional Supervision
For Traditional Peer Support Professionals, supervision may also need to account for:
- Traditional knowledge
- Elders
- Community relationships
- Cultural values
- Tribal or village practices
- Indigenous approaches to wellness
- Cultural safety
Questions Organizations Should Answer
- Who supervises peer staff?
- Does the supervisor understand peer support?
- Does the supervisor meet Medicaid requirements?
- Does the supervisor understand Traditional Peer Support where applicable?
- How often does supervision occur?
- Is required supervision documented?
- Is peer practice supervision separate from administrative supervision?
- How are ethical concerns addressed?
- Who handles clinical escalation?
- How does the organization prevent role drift?
- How are remote workers supervised?
- How are rural and village-based peers supported?
Documentation for Alaska Peer Support Services
Peer support documentation should accurately describe what service occurred while remaining consistent with peer values.
Requirements depend on:
- Medicaid benefit
- 1115 waiver requirements
- Provider category
- Grant
- Tribal program
- Organization
- Service plan
- Payer
Common Documentation Elements
A peer note may include:
- Participant name or identifier
- Date of service
- Start and end time
- Units
- Location
- Modality
- Type of peer service
- Participant-defined goal
- Peer intervention
- Relevant use of lived experience
- Community resources
- Participant response
- Progress
- Natural supports
- Follow-up plan
- Peer worker name
- Credential
- Required signature
Peer Documentation Should Be
- Accurate
- Timely
- Strengths-based
- Recovery-oriented
- Respectful
- Relevant
- Consistent with the peer role
- Consistent with the service plan
- Limited to necessary information
- Compliant with payer requirements
Peer Documentation Should Avoid
- Unsupported diagnoses
- Stigmatizing terminology
- Clinical interpretations outside peer competence
- Unnecessary trauma details
- Irrelevant personal information
- Copying notes between participants
- Documenting services that did not occur
- Statements designed only to trigger reimbursement
- Personal opinions represented as clinical facts
Documentation and Billing Are Not the Same Thing
A complete peer note does not automatically make a service reimbursable.
A payable claim may also depend on:
- Medicaid eligibility
- Provider enrollment
- Covered service
- Service authorization
- Peer qualifications
- Supervision
- Treatment or service plan
- Correct procedure code
- Modifier
- Units
- Place of service
- Timely filing
- Waiver eligibility
- Program requirements
Confidentiality and Information Sharing
Peer programs in Alaska may handle sensitive mental health and substance use information.
Depending on the organization and service, requirements may include:
- HIPAA
- 42 CFR Part 2
- Alaska law
- Medicaid requirements
- Tribal health privacy requirements
- Federal grant conditions
- Organizational policy
- Requirements involving minors
- Consent and authorization rules
Peer professionals should receive training on:
- What information they may access
- What they should document
- When information may be shared
- Behavioral health team communication
- Participant consent
- Electronic communication
- Text messaging
- Mobile devices
- Telehealth
- Crisis situations
- Legal requests
- Substance use records
- Cultural privacy expectations
Tribal organizations may also operate within legal and governance structures that differ from non-Tribal providers.
Organizations should obtain advice specific to their setting.
Where Peer Support Is Delivered in Alaska
Community Behavioral Health Providers
Peer professionals may work within community behavioral health organizations delivering mental health and substance use services.
Substance Use Disorder Programs
Peers may support people entering, participating in, or transitioning from substance use disorder treatment.
Tribal Health Organizations
Alaska’s Tribal health system is a major behavioral health delivery network.
Peer and Traditional Peer Support roles may be particularly relevant in:
- Tribal health organizations
- Village-based services
- Rural health programs
- Alaska Native behavioral health programs
- Community recovery services
Rural Behavioral Health Programs
Alaska has specifically funded expansion of community-based peer support into rural areas.
State grant materials identify peer support as a strategy for improving access to behavioral health support in communities outside Anchorage, Juneau, and Fairbanks.
Peers who live within those communities may be particularly well positioned to provide culturally responsive and locally relevant support.
Peer-Run Organizations
Peer-run organizations may provide:
- Recovery support
- Community connection
- Groups
- Advocacy
- Education
- Resource navigation
- Wellness activities
- Outreach
- Harm reduction
- Recovery-oriented social support
Crisis Services
Peer workers may participate in:
- Crisis stabilization
- Crisis respite
- Post-crisis support
- Care transitions
- Community crisis services
Alaska’s crisis-system assessments identify peer support workers as part of some crisis and step-down service models.
Hospitals and Emergency Departments
Peers may support people following:
- Overdose
- Substance-related emergencies
- Psychiatric crises
- Hospitalization
- Behavioral health emergencies
Justice and Reentry
Peer workers may support people affected by:
- Incarceration
- Court involvement
- Reentry
- Substance use
- Mental illness
- Community supervision
Family Services
Family peers may support caregivers and family members navigating behavioral health systems.
Collegiate Recovery Programs
Alaska colleges and universities may employ student peers, peer mentors, or recovery-support workers.
These roles do not automatically become ACBHC-certified Medicaid peer services merely because the title includes the word “peer.”
Rural and Frontier Peer Support
Rural geography is unusually important in Alaska.
Some communities:
- Have no road connection to larger cities
- Depend on air transportation
- Have limited behavioral health workforce capacity
- Serve small populations over large geographic areas
- Rely heavily on Tribal health infrastructure
- Face challenges recruiting licensed clinicians
- May have limited broadband access
A peer support model designed for Alaska should therefore consider:
- Rural workforce recruitment
- Local hiring
- Remote supervision
- Offline documentation workflows
- Low-bandwidth communication
- Travel time
- Community privacy
- Small-community dual relationships
- Cultural relevance
- Integration with Tribal health systems
- Telehealth
- Workforce retention
Starting a Peer Support Program in Alaska
Organizations should begin with the population and service model rather than starting with a billing code.
Step 1: Define the Population
Identify who the program will serve:
- Adults with mental health conditions
- People with substance use disorders
- Families
- Alaska Native communities
- Rural communities
- Youth
- People leaving hospitals
- People experiencing homelessness
- People returning from incarceration
- College students
- People experiencing behavioral health crises
- A specific village or cultural community
Step 2: Select the Appropriate Peer Pathway
Determine whether the program needs:
- Peer Support Associate
- Peer Support Professional I
- Peer Support Professional II
- Peer Support Professional III
- Traditional Peer Support Associate
- Traditional Peer Support Professional I
- Traditional Peer Support Professional II
- Traditional Peer Support Professional III
- Another non-certified peer role
The highest credential is not necessarily required for every position.
The correct credential depends on:
- Service
- Staff responsibilities
- Medicaid rules
- Organization requirements
- Supervision
- Program model
Step 3: Define the Peer Relationship
Clarify:
- What lived experience is relevant?
- Is the peer supporting an individual or a family?
- How will lived experience be used?
- How will participants be matched?
- Is participation voluntary?
- How will cultural identity be considered?
- What does mutuality mean?
- How will small-community relationships be handled?
Step 4: Identify the Funding Model
Potential funding sources may include:
- Alaska Medicaid
- Behavioral Health Reform 1115 waiver
- State grants
- Federal grants
- Tribal health funding
- Indian Health Service arrangements
- Opioid response funding
- Hospital funding
- Philanthropy
- University contracts
- Community funding
- Private payment
Funding requirements vary substantially.
Step 5: Confirm Staff Qualifications
Determine:
- Required certification level
- Lived-experience requirements
- Recovery requirements
- Education requirements
- Training hours
- Work experience
- Practicum
- Supervision
- Continuing education
- Renewal
- Reciprocity eligibility
Step 6: Confirm Provider Eligibility
For Medicaid services, determine:
- Who will bill?
- Is the organization an eligible Alaska Medicaid provider?
- Does DBH approval apply?
- Is the service state plan or waiver?
- What practitioner qualifications apply?
- What supervision applies?
- Is prior authorization required?
- What program category applies?
Step 7: Design the Workflow
Map:
- Referral
- Intake
- Eligibility
- Consent
- Assignment
- Matching
- Scheduling
- Service delivery
- Documentation
- Supervision
- Crisis escalation
- Follow-up
- Transition
- Discharge
- Outcomes reporting
Step 8: Establish Role Boundaries
Create written policies covering:
- Scope
- Confidentiality
- Crisis response
- Transportation
- Gifts
- Social media
- Dual relationships
- Small-community relationships
- Communication outside business hours
- Home visits
- Travel
- Cultural expectations
- Staff wellness
- Role drift
Step 9: Build Quality Measurement
Useful measures may include:
- Time from referral to contact
- Engagement
- Retention
- Participant-defined goals
- Recovery capital
- Community connection
- Treatment engagement
- Successful transitions
- Satisfaction
- Employment
- Education
- Housing stability
- Natural supports
- Peer workforce retention
- Supervision completion
- Documentation timeliness
- Credential compliance
Step 10: Review Current Requirements
Before beginning reimbursable services, confirm requirements with:
- Alaska Medicaid
- Alaska Department of Health
- Division of Behavioral Health
- Alaska Commission for Behavioral Health Certification
- Applicable Tribal health organization
- Applicable payer
- Organization compliance personnel
- Qualified legal advisors
Common Challenges for Alaska Peer Programs
Rural Access
Peer workers may cover extremely large service areas or communities with limited transportation infrastructure.
Workforce Shortages
Peer support can strengthen Alaska’s behavioral health workforce, but rural programs may still struggle to recruit, train, and retain staff.
Certification Complexity
The tiered PSP and Traditional PSP systems create flexibility but require organizations to track:
- Credential level
- Training
- Experience
- Practicum
- Supervision
- Renewal
- Continuing education
Cultural Fit
Programs serving Alaska Native communities should avoid imposing a generic peer-support model without incorporating cultural knowledge, community relationships, and traditional approaches.
Small-Community Boundaries
Peers in small communities may have unavoidable overlapping relationships with participants.
Organizations need realistic policies for:
- Dual relationships
- Confidentiality
- Community events
- Family connections
- Social media
- Transportation
- Shared community spaces
Technology and Connectivity
Digital systems must account for:
- Limited broadband
- Remote communities
- Mobile workflows
- Offline access
- Data synchronization
- Secure remote supervision
Fragmented Funding
Programs may combine:
- Medicaid
- 1115 waiver funds
- Tribal funding
- State grants
- Federal grants
- Opioid response funding
Each source may impose different reporting and documentation rules.
Demonstrating Outcomes
Peer support outcomes may include more than traditional clinical measures.
Programs may need to measure:
- Hope
- Connection
- Engagement
- Recovery capital
- Cultural connection
- Community participation
- Self-efficacy
- Participant-defined progress
- Service access
- Successful transitions
Frequently Asked Questions
Is peer support covered by Alaska Medicaid?
Yes.
Alaska Medicaid covers certain individual and family peer support services through eligible providers. Additional recovery-oriented services are available through the state’s Behavioral Health Reform 1115 waiver.
Coverage depends on the provider, program, service definition, staff qualifications, supervision, recipient eligibility, documentation, and billing rules.
What is Alaska’s peer support credential?
Alaska does not use only one credential.
The ACBHC certification structure includes:
- Peer Support Associate
- Peer Support Professional I
- Peer Support Professional II
- Peer Support Professional III
Alaska also has parallel Traditional Peer Support credentials.
Who certifies peer professionals in Alaska?
The Alaska Commission for Behavioral Health Certification administers the certification program under a contract with the Alaska Department of Health Division of Behavioral Health.
Does Alaska have a specialized Indigenous peer credential?
Yes.
Alaska has a Traditional Peer Support Professional pathway developed for Alaska Native, Native American, and Indigenous professionals and designed to recognize cultural and traditional approaches to peer support.
How often must Alaska peer certification be renewed?
Current certification is renewed every two years.
What continuing education is required?
Current ACBHC non-degree matrices identify 15 hours for two-year renewal:
- 3 hours updated ethics
- 3 hours confidentiality
- 9 hours elective continuing education
Applicants should verify the current matrix when renewing.
How much training is required?
It depends on certification level.
Current non-degree requirements identify approximately:
- 50 hours for Peer Support Associate
- 65 hours for Peer Support Professional I
- 115 hours for Peer Support Professional II
- 155 hours for Peer Support Professional III
The degreed track and Traditional Peer Support pathways may differ.
Is lived experience required?
Yes.
Lived experience is fundamental to Alaska’s peer certification model.
ACBHC recognizes personal recovery experience as well as qualifying family lived experience in its definition of peer support.
Is there a recovery-duration requirement?
Current ACBHC materials require one year of recovery for several professional certification levels.
Applicants should verify the requirement applying to their specific certification level.
Can a certified peer independently bill Alaska Medicaid?
Do not assume so.
Peer support is reimbursed through eligible Medicaid behavioral health provider structures. Certification alone does not establish independent Medicaid billing authority.
What is H0038?
H0038 is the primary procedure code used for certain Alaska Medicaid peer support services.
Current state-plan structures distinguish:
- Individual peer support
- Family peer support with the participant present
- Family peer support without the participant present
Is Community Recovery Support Services the same as peer support?
No.
Alaska’s 1115 waiver includes Community Recovery Support Services under H2021-based coding. These should not automatically be treated as identical to H0038 Peer Support Services.
Can family members provide peer services?
Alaska’s peer certification definition recognizes certain family lived experience, and Alaska Medicaid specifically includes family peer support service codes.
The exact worker qualifications should be confirmed for the service being delivered.
Can peers work in Tribal health programs?
Yes.
Tribal health organizations are an important part of Alaska’s behavioral health system, and the state’s Traditional Peer Support credential is particularly relevant to culturally grounded peer services.
Can peer support be provided in rural communities?
Yes.
Alaska has specifically funded efforts to expand peer support services into rural areas of the state.
Can peers work in crisis services?
Yes.
Alaska’s behavioral health crisis system includes peer-support roles in some crisis, respite, transition, and recovery services.
Can peers write progress notes?
Yes.
Peers may document the services they deliver when required by the organization, Medicaid, waiver, grant, or payer.
Documentation should stay within the peer role.
Are peer workers clinicians?
No.
Peer certification does not itself create a clinical license.
A person may separately hold another professional credential, but peer support is a distinct recovery-oriented role.
Can peer support be delivered virtually?
Some behavioral health services may be available by telehealth depending on the specific Medicaid service and current policy.
Organizations should verify the current rate sheet and service standards rather than assuming that every peer service is telehealth-eligible.
What should a peer support note include?
A peer note may document:
- Participant goal
- Peer intervention
- Relevant lived-experience support
- Participant response
- Resources or connections
- Progress
- Follow-up plan
- Required time and service information
What outcomes should Alaska peer programs track?
Possible measures include:
- Engagement
- Retention
- Recovery capital
- Cultural and community connection
- Participant-defined progress
- Treatment engagement
- Service transitions
- Housing
- Employment
- Education
- Satisfaction
- Peer workforce retention
- Supervision
- Credential maintenance
Official and State-Recognized Alaska Peer Support Resources
Certification and Training
Alaska Peer Support Certification
Official Alaska Department of Health overview of peer support certification, current certification infrastructure, Traditional Peer Support certification, and links to ACBHC.
Link: https://health.alaska.gov/en/services/alaska-peer-support-certification/
Last checked: August 11, 2026
Alaska Commission for Behavioral Health Certification Peer Support Professionals
Primary certification hub for Alaska Peer Support Professional and Traditional Peer Support Professional credentials, applications, manuals, matrices, training guides, and certification information.
Link: https://akcertification.org/peer-support-professionals/
Last checked: August 11, 2026
ACBHC Peer Support Forms
Current application hub for Peer Support Associate, PSP I, PSP II, PSP III, and parallel Traditional Peer Support credentials.
Link: https://akcertification.org/peer-support-forms/
Last checked: August 11, 2026
ACBHC Peer Support Certification Manual
Detailed certification manual describing Alaska’s peer-support credentialing program, lived-experience requirements, application process, certification levels, ethics process, and recertification.
Link: https://akcertification.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/peer_support_certification_manual.pdf
Last checked: August 11, 2026
ACBHC Peer Support Resources
ACBHC directory of training and peer-support resources available to Alaska peer professionals.
Link: https://akcertification.org/peer-support-resources/
Last checked: August 11, 2026
ACBHC Continuing Education Resources
Behavioral health continuing-education resources that may help certified professionals complete applicable ongoing education requirements.
Link: https://akcertification.org/resources/
Last checked: August 11, 2026
Medicaid and Reimbursement
Alaska Behavioral Health Medicaid Provider Assistance
Primary Division of Behavioral Health hub for current behavioral health provider service standards, administrative procedures, state-plan rates, 1115 waiver rates, forms, Medicaid support, and provider guidance.
Link: https://health.alaska.gov/en/services/behavioral-health-medicaid-provider-support/
Last checked: August 11, 2026
Alaska Behavioral Health Provider Service Standards and Administrative Procedures
Official provider standards governing behavioral health Medicaid services, provider operations, staff qualifications, documentation, and related requirements.
Available through the Behavioral Health Medicaid Provider Assistance hub.
Last checked: August 11, 2026
Alaska SUD Provider Service Standards and Administrative Procedures
Official state guidance for Medicaid substance use disorder providers, including staffing, credentialing, services, and administrative requirements.
Available through the Behavioral Health Medicaid Provider Assistance hub.
Last checked: August 11, 2026
Community Behavioral Health Services and Mental Health Physician Clinic Rates
Current rate sheets for Alaska Medicaid community behavioral health services, including peer support services.
The state currently posts a rate schedule effective July 1, 2026.
Link: https://health.alaska.gov/en/services/behavioral-health-medicaid-provider-support/
Last checked: August 11, 2026
Behavioral Health Reform 1115 Medicaid Waiver Rates
Current rate and service charts for Alaska’s behavioral health 1115 waiver, including community and recovery-oriented services.
Link: https://health.alaska.gov/en/services/behavioral-health-medicaid-provider-support/
Last checked: August 11, 2026
Alaska Medicaid
State Medicaid program providing coverage, provider enrollment, billing, policy, and program guidance.
Link: https://health.alaska.gov/en/services/medicaid/
Last checked: August 11, 2026
State Agencies
Alaska Department of Health
Cabinet-level state health agency responsible for Medicaid, public health, behavioral health, senior and disability services, and other health programs.
Link: https://health.alaska.gov/
Last checked: August 11, 2026
Alaska Division of Behavioral Health
Primary state behavioral health division responsible for mental health, substance use disorder programs, grants, Medicaid behavioral health policy, crisis-system development, and peer workforce initiatives.
Link: https://health.alaska.gov/en/division-of-behavioral-health/
Last checked: August 11, 2026
Alaska Medicaid
Alaska’s Medicaid program and primary source for covered services, provider enrollment, reimbursement, billing, and Medicaid program policy.
Link: https://health.alaska.gov/en/services/medicaid/
Last checked: August 11, 2026
Alaska Commission for Behavioral Health Certification
State-recognized certification organization administering behavioral health and peer-support professional credentials.
Link: https://akcertification.org/
Last checked: August 11, 2026
Community and Peer Recovery Resources
ACBHC Peer Support Resources
State certification body’s resource hub linking Alaska peer professionals to training and peer-support organizations.
Link: https://akcertification.org/peer-support-resources/
Last checked: August 11, 2026
Ionia Natural Peer Support
Peer-support organization identified by ACBHC as a peer-support resource for Alaskans.
Link: https://www.naturalpeersupport.org/
Last checked: August 11, 2026
True North Recovery
Alaska recovery organization identified through ACBHC peer resources and offering recovery support and workforce training.
Last checked: August 11, 2026
Tribal Behavioral Health Organizations
Alaska’s Tribal health organizations are major providers of behavioral health, recovery, and culturally grounded community services across the state.
Organizations should identify the relevant regional Tribal health organization for local services.
Last checked: August 11, 2026
Technology for Alaska Peer Support Programs
Technology for Alaska peer programs should reflect the state’s unusual workforce, geography, payer structure, and cultural context.
Programs may need technology supporting:
- Peer Support Associate workflows
- PSP I, II, and III credential tracking
- Traditional Peer Support credentials
- Peer-specific documentation
- Family peer support
- Participant-defined goals
- Recovery-oriented language
- Community Recovery Support Services
- State-plan and 1115 services
- Supervision
- Practicum tracking
- Training hours
- Continuing education
- Certification renewal
- Referrals
- Caseload management
- Scheduling
- Groups
- Participant communication
- Recovery planning
- Outcomes
- Medicaid documentation
- Grant reporting
- Tribal program reporting
- Role-based permissions
- Sensitive substance use information
- Remote supervision
- Rural workflows
- Low-bandwidth access
- Mobile documentation
- Offline workflows
- Cultural and community considerations
A generic clinical record may capture encounters while missing the relationships, recovery goals, cultural connections, community supports, and participant-defined progress that make peer support distinct.
Technology should strengthen peer practice rather than force peer workers into a purely clinical model.
About Peerakeet
Peerakeet builds infrastructure for organizations delivering peer support and recovery services.
The platform supports peer-specific documentation, program workflows, supervision, participant engagement, scheduling, reporting, credential management, and day-to-day operations.
Peerakeet does not determine whether a service is billable and does not replace guidance from Alaska Medicaid, the Alaska Department of Health, the Alaska Commission for Behavioral Health Certification, Tribal authorities, attorneys, compliance professionals, or other applicable authorities.
Editorial Disclaimer
This guide is provided for general educational purposes. It is not legal, billing, credentialing, clinical, Tribal-law, or regulatory advice.
Peer support requirements may vary by service, payer, provider type, credential, certification level, grant, Tribal organization, and program.
Regulations, Medicaid standards, certification requirements, rates, and guidance may change after publication.
Organizations and peer professionals should verify current requirements with Alaska Medicaid, the Alaska Department of Health Division of Behavioral Health, the Alaska Commission for Behavioral Health Certification, applicable Tribal health organizations, and qualified professional advisors.
Last reviewed: August 2026.