For Immediate Release:
October 12, 2021
Media Contacts
Amy Webb, Chief of Communications & Community Engagement
amy.webb@dhs.arkansas.gov
Gavin Lesnick, Deputy Chief of Communications
gavin.lesnick.dhs@dhs.arkansas.gov
(LITTLE ROCK, Ark.) — Reports tied to the licensing and monitoring of Arkansas’s Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facilities are now accessible online, the Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS) announced today. People seeking this information will no longer need to file a Freedom of Information Act request for the documents.
Reports from the last five years for each facility can be downloaded through a new public drive linked off the DHS website, and future reports will be added going forward as soon as they are publicly available.
“These reports offer important insights into how these facilities are caring for the youths they treat under the state regulations they are required to follow,” said Tonya Williams, Director of the DHS Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education. “We are pleased to be able to make this information easily available for review by advocates, stakeholders, the media, parents, or anyone else with an interest in learning more about how these facilities are being operated.”
There are three DHS divisions that play a role in licensing or monitoring these types of facilities: Williams’ early education division, the Division of Provider Services and Quality Assurance, and the Division of Medical Services. Documents from all three divisions are available on the new public drive. Available documents include monitoring and complaint visit reports, corrective action plans and, if applicable, notices of adverse action.
These reports have always been public documents, but previously they were available only by submitting a Freedom of Information Act request. The new public drive eliminates the need to submit a formal request, streamlining the process for obtaining the reports. This is the second time that DHS has moved large amounts of documents online for easy access. In 2019, DHS made all Office of Long-Term Care nursing home monitoring reports available online.
Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facilities provide a range of comprehensive services to treat the psychiatric condition of patients under the age of 21, on an inpatient basis under the direction of a physician. The purpose of such comprehensive services is to improve the patient’s condition or prevent further regression so that the services will no longer be needed.
The facilities in Arkansas are Centers for Youth and Families – Elizabeth Mitchell Centers, The Centers for Youth and Families Monticello, Dacus RTC -UMCH, Delta Family Health and Fitness for Children, Little Creek Behavioral Health, Millcreek of Arkansas PRTF, Neurorestorative Timber Ridge, Perimeter Behavioral of Forrest City, Perimeter Behavioral of West Memphis, Perimeter of the Ozarks, Piney Ridge Treatment Center, United Methodist Children’s Home (UMCH-LR), and Youth Home Inc.
