SPRINGDALE — Arisa Health announced Friday it would not submit a bid to participate in the statewide network of community mental health centers when its current contract expires after participating for more than 55 years in the program.
The health care provider, which operates the community mental health centers in 41 counties in the state, cited cost concerns in making the decision.
“Arisa Health has relied on limited state and federal funds to provide mandated, comprehensive services to uninsured, underinsured, Medicaid and other vulnerable populations — regardless of ability to pay,” a news release from Arisa states. “While Arisa historically absorbed funding gaps to maintain access to care, the level of supplemental support required in the most recent contract cycle has grown exponentially and is no longer sustainable.”
The community mental health center program is operated under the Arkansas Department of Human Services for people without health insurance needing basic to intensive mental health services, according to the department’s website.
Despite Arisa’s efforts to communicate to state officials the funding required to continue operating quality programs that meet state mandates, the most recent bid included an annual reduction of approximately $4.4 million in total funding and did not address the core issues raised, Arisa’s release states.
Issues raised by Arisa include insufficient rates, adjustments for inflation and population growth and the workforce shortage driven by wage inflation. It’s not possible to recruit and retain a behavioral health workforce without allowing an increase in compensation in response to rising inflation, according to the release.
Ozark Guidance Center, an affiliate of Arisa Health, operates the community mental health centers in Benton, Washington, Madison, Carroll, Boone and Newton counties in Northwest Arkansas, according to a directory from the Department of Human Services. Additionally, Arisa or its affiliates operate the community mental health centers in all of northeast and much of central Arkansas, the directory shows.
Arisa’s current contract expires June 30, at which point it will close some locations and cease being the state-contracted provider for mobile crisis, forensic restoration services, and services to incarcerated people. The 13 outpatient clinics that currently handle over 70% of Arisa’s clients will remain open and serve as hubs for services throughout the 41 counties Arisa serves, the provider stated in its release.
“No matter how the landscape shifts, our promise to the citizens of Arkansas does not,” Arisa CEO Laura H. Tyler said in the release. “Arisa will continue to provide the highest quality of care to those who need it most, and we will only deliver services that reflect our strategic plan, our vision and our values. This moment requires clarity and conviction, and we are choosing a path forward that protects our mission, our team, our communities and the clients we serve.”
Meanwhile, Washington County officials on Tuesday are set to consider an ordinance appropriating money for Arisa to provide mental health services in a pretrial program meant to reduce the rate of recidivism among county jail inmates.
The Quorum Court’s Finance and Budget Committee voted in April to postpone until the panel’s May 12 meeting an ordinance appropriating $169,875 to the Community Rebuilding Initiative budget to pay for mental health services for detainees in the program for all of 2026.
Arisa Health was paid for 2025 through Returning Home, not the county, according to information from the county. Returning Home oversees the Community Rebuilding Initiative for the county.
The ordinance would pay Arisa Health directly from the county’s general fund reserves. No payments have been made in 2026, Washington County Comptroller Paul Sherman told the justices of the peace in April.
The justices of the peace questioned why the money was not in the county’s 2026 budget and why a contract to pay Arisa hadn’t yet been approved.
Sherman said Friday the ordinance was on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting.
Tad Sours, the county’s communications director, said Arisa provided service to the Community Rebuilding Initiative and to the county’s drug court program, and neither is affected by the decision by Arisa to close some of its facilities.
Washington County Sheriff Jay Cantrell said Arisa had provided some services at the Detention Center through Karas Correctional Health Care, but will no longer do so. The Sheriff’s Office and Karas are looking for a replacement mental health services provider, Cantrell said.
Jada Robison can be reached by email at [email protected]. Tom Sissom can be reached by email at [email protected].
Jada Robison is the health and Rogers/Lowell city reporter for the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. She discovered her love for journalism writing for her University newspaper, The Bison, at Harding University. She went on to win first place in feature writing at a the Southeast Journalism Conference in 2021 and began writing for other publications outside of school. Post school she explored other avenues and occupations before deciding to continue pursuing her dream of becoming a writer.
Tom Sissom has worked at newspapers in Pine Bluff, Little Rock and Northwest Arkansas for more than 40 years.
Beginning as a police beat reporter in Pine Bluff, he has covered law enforcement, courts, local and state politics, the state prison system, and city and county governments in addition to dabbling in coverage of agriculture, education, the environment, state government and the economy.
Working in Northwest Arkansas since 1990, Tom has been an award-winning reporter, a columnist and city editor and an editorial page editor.