mark white
Arkansas lawmakers mulling improvements to mental and behavioral health policy
Arkansas legislators are compiling a report to recommend legislation during the 2023 session aimed at bolstering mental and behavioral health services for Arkansans of all ages and incomes. The Joint Health Services Subcommittee met Monday to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the state’s existing mental and behavioral health care resources, in accordance with a […]
Arkansas Medicaid eligibility review expected to start in January – DHS officials
The Arkansas Department of Human Services is ready to “unwind” Medicaid coverage for thousands of Arkansans who gained access to the health insurance program when the federal government declared a public health emergency in 2020, officials said Friday. The public health emergency (PHE) declared at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic will likely end in […]
CMS OKs Arkansas’ experimental Life360 program for vulnerable Medicaid groups
The Biden administration on Tuesday approved a new component of Arkansas’ Medicaid expansion program focused on high-risk pregnancies, rural mental health care and at-risk young adults. Life360 Homes was one of the final outstanding portions of Arkansas’ Medicaid expansion waiver that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services hadn’t approved. CMS signed off on most […]
An interview with Arkansas’ outgoing Secretary of Human Services Cindy Gillespie
Cindy Gillespie’s last day as the secretary of the Arkansas Department of Human Services was Friday. Advocate Deputy Editor Hunter Field had a brief conversation with Gillespie and her successor, Mark White. Gillespie, whose annual salary was roughly $287,o00, is leaving after more than six years at the helm of Arkansas’ largest state agency to […]
Arkansas DHS chief of staff will replace outgoing Human Services secretary
Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced on Thursday the appointment of Mark White as the next head of the Arkansas Department of Human Services. White, the agency’s current chief of staff and chief legislative and intergovernmental affairs officer, will replace Human Services Secretary Cindy Gillespie, who announced last week that she would resign next month. “I have […]