Life360 HOMEs (also called Life360s) will provide intensive supports for Arkansas Medicaid clients most at risk of poor health outcomes. Life360 supports will be supplemental only; medical services including doctor’s visit or home health care will continue to be provided through ARHOME health plan or traditional Medicaid.

DHS will partner with eligible Medicaid hospitals selected through an application process. A summary of the process is below and detailed in the Provider Manual. The manual contains all Life360 HOME requirements established for the program. DHS will provide funding to implement three types of Life360 HOMES:

• Maternal Life360s will support women with a high-risk pregnancy diagnosis with evidence-based maternal and child home visiting services during pregnancy and for up to two (2) years after birth
• Rural Life360s will provide care coordination services to ARHOME individuals with a diagnosis of serious mental illness (SMI) or substance use disorder (SUD) who live in rural areas of the state. Services will include screening and referrals for all residents with a health-related social need, providing direct support and coordinating with behavioral health/ social services providers to ensure clients remain healthy in the community and limit unnecessary hospitalization and ER. The Life360 will also establish acute care beds for short-term crisis stabilization and help to transition patients to an appropriate level of care through the Life360 network.
• Success Life360s will be contracted or provided directly by the hospital, and will help with life skills and other health-related social needs for young adults at risk and were in foster care, incarcerated or involved with the juvenile justice system or are veterans. Clients will also need to be enrolled, or eligible for ARHOME.

Eligibility

To be eligible to serve as a Life360 provider, hospitals must be a current Arkansas Medicaid hospital provider and meet the following requirement for the Life360 it is interested in becoming:

• Maternal Life360 must be a birthing hospital that is a licensed general hospital either in the state of Arkansas or a border state and that provides obstetrical services. 
• Rural Life360 must be a small rural hospital that is a licensed general or critical access hospital (CAH), has fifty (50) or fewer beds, and is located in a rural area.  A rural area is defined as a county that has either a CAH or SHIP hospital or has less than 50,000 people
• Success Life360 must be an acute care hospital licensed by the Department of Health.

Letter of Intent

The process for becoming any of the three Life360 provider types begins with a letter of intent submitted to DHS. Hospitals that are interested in becoming a Life360 and getting startup funding in January 2023 (the earliest available), can submit a letter of intent to life360@arkansas.gov beginning September 1, 2022. Letters of intent must include:

• The type(s) of Life360 the hospital is applying to become;
• Name and contact information for staff member serving as program lead;
• Additional information on the estimated number of clients to be served, organizational partners, and other requested information for each Life360 provider type (see below documents);
• Hospital location, Medicaid provider ID, proposed service area (area to be served). Click on the following maps for more information:

The DHS Division of Medical Services (DMS) will review the letter of intent for completeness and whether hospital is qualified to apply.

Maternal Life Flyer
Rural Life Flyer
Success Life Flyer

Additional Tools

There are currently 4 evidence-based models in Arkansas that provide home visiting services during pregnancy through 2 years of age. The Home Visiting Service Areas map above shows an overview of where these programs are implemented currently in the state.  Hospitals may partner with an organization(s) providing these programs in their county or outside of their immediate county, and a contact list searchable by county and program is available here.

Mandatory staff training and quality program standards (e.g., caseloads, staffing, and data collection) exist for each program model.  For more information go to: 

Healthy Families America
Nurse Family Partnership
Parents as Teachers
Early Head Start

Click here for a full list of programs that meet U.S Health and Human Services criteria as evidence-based maternal and early childhood home visiting service delivery models.

Arkansas Home Visiting Network (AHVN) promotes high quality and evidence-based home visiting services to Arkansas families. The AHVN facilitates activities among its members to promote program collaboration and to raise public awareness about home visiting, to expand and sustain home visiting services, to provide supplemental home visiting training to collect and share data, and to share relevant policy and research information.

Application

If approved to move forward with an application, the hospital must submit a completed online application within 90 calendar days. Applications and checklists are below. If the application is approved and a startup agreement is signed, the selected applicant will be eligible for startup funds and will be in the startup phase. If you need assistance completing the application, please contact life360@dhs.arkansas.gov

Application link

Startup and Readiness Review

During the startup phase, the selected applicant is expected to follow its startup plan and budget outlined in the approved application. Startup funds may be used to cover the cost of staff, equipment, and supports identified in the selected applicant’s startup budget or otherwise approved by DMS. Expenditures will be subject to audit. 

Each selected applicant must complete the startup phase within the timeframe specified in their startup plan, not to exceed 180 days from the receipt of startup funds. During the startup phase, DMS and the hospital working to become a Life360 will meet at least monthly to assess progress toward readiness review. DMS will schedule readiness review when hospitals inform DMS they are ready to complete the readiness review before the end of the startup phase.

Legislation
Rate Sheet
Startup agreements: Rural | Success | Maternal

Questions

If you have any questions, please email life360@dhs.arkansas.gov.