The Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) coordinates administration, policy-making and public health services for the state through a central office located in Little Rock, Arkansas. Collaborative efforts of the Administration and six Centers, which include a cross-section of programs, work to develop and execute innovative strategies for the provision of services and mechanisms for billing. Through clinical and outreach efforts, ADH also provides educational messages on the importance of preventing disease, preventing unplanned pregnancies and the benefits of adopting healthy lifestyles. The ADH Local Health Units (LHU) seek to continually establish linkages and partnerships with community-based providers from a variety of disciplines. The linkages are essential to coordinate referral services for patients with health needs that are beyond the scope of services offered by ADH.
The ADH Women’s Health Section (WHS) Family Planning Program (FPP) currently offers confidential family planning services in 95 service sites (at least one in each county). This includes 92 LHUs and 3 satellite sites located throughout the state. As part of the Center for Health Advancement’s Family Health Branch, the WHS Family Planning Program strives to assure services for men and women as they plan their families. Services include delaying, preventing, achieving, or facilitating the spacing of pregnancy. Family Planning services also include basic infertility services, health screenings, physical exams, access to a broad range of contraceptive options, sexually transmitted infection treatment and education, pharmaceuticals and laboratory tests, information, education, and counseling emphasizing family participation in decisions regarding adolescent’s reproductive health and achieving healthy lifestyles.
The Family Planning Program continues to serve existing and new ADH clients using an electronic health record, third party/insurance billing and clients with Arkansas Medicaid plans, private insurance, and uninsured. Accordingly, all FPP objectives, goals, and activities are designed to reach out to high risk and vulnerable populations to ensure delivery of family planning services and related preventive health service in a fair and equitable manner while emphasizing the ADH mission, “To protect and improve the health and well-being of all Arkansans”. ADH is devoted to improving and expanding accessibility of Title X family planning services, advancing health equity, and delivering the highest quality services to the Arkansans we serve.
If funded, the Arkansas Department of Health will continue to encourage family participation in the decision of adolescents to seek family planning services and will continue to provide counseling on how to resist attempts to be coerced into engaging in sexual activities. ADH will deliver family planning services in compliance with the statue, regulations, legislative mandates, and guarantee alignment with Office of Population Affairs (OPA) program priorities. ADH abides by state laws requiring notification or the reporting of child abuse, child molestation, sexual abuse, rape, or incest.