Arkansas Total Care Appointment Availability Guidelines

Date: 11/06/24

Arkansas Total Care assesses appointment availability practices annually to ensure adherence with established standards. We monitor participating provider compliance with these standards to ensure adequate access to care and reduce inappropriate emergency department utilization. The table below outlines our expected appointment availability time frames based on the service being provided.

SERVICE TYPE	TIME FRAME
Emergency care — medical, behavioral health, substance abuse	24 hours a day, seven days a week
Behavioral health service, developmental disability service, mobile crisis response	24 hours a day, seven days a week
Urgent care — medical, behavioral health, substance abuse	Within 24 hours
Primary care — routine, non-urgent symptoms	Within 21 calendar days
Behavioral health substance abuse care — routine, non-urgent, non-emergency	Within 21 calendar days
Prenatal care	Within 14 calendar days
Primary care access to after-hours care	Office number answered 24/7 by answering service or instructions on how to reach a physician
Preventive visit/wellness visit	Within 30 calendar days
Specialty care — non-urgent	Within 60 calendar days
HCBS — identified as necessary to protect the health and safety of the member	Within 90 calendars of completion of the PCSP

For more information about these standards and our expectations of how quickly our members should be able get an appointment for a given service, please consult the Provider Manual on our Provider Resources page.