St. Bernards Medical Center will expand its Maternal Life360 HOME program to Paragould, a year after launching the initiative in Jonesboro, the hospital system announced Monday. The program provides at-home support to pregnant Arkansans on Medicaid with high-risk pregnancies.
The program, approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in November 2022, initially allowed 5,000 pregnant and postpartum Arkansans to receive home visits. Life360 HOME services address both medical and health-related social needs, such as food security and housing.
“Through our Pregnancy Clinics and Maternal Life360 HOME programs, St. Bernards is helping individual moms and babies get healthy starts,” said Emily McGee, St. Bernards vice president for Nursing and Women’s & Children’s Services. “We provide the care they need, regardless of their insurance status, financial ability or health history. Our calling is to serve them however and wherever we can, and we plan to continue to grow by serving additional counties in the near future.”
Life360 HOME began as part of Arkansas Health and Opportunity for Me (ARHOME), the state’s Medicaid expansion program. While it originally served only ARHOME enrollees, it now includes any Arkansan on Medicaid with a high-risk pregnancy living in a Life360 service area. Participants must not already receive other state or federally funded home-visiting services.
DHS funds three other Life360 HOME programs in Little Rock, North Little Rock, and Batesville, and three more hospitalsincluding CHI St. Vincent in Hot Springs, Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas in Rogers, and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciencesare preparing to become providers.
Arkansas consistently ranks among the nation’s highest for maternal and infant mortality. The state has not adopted the federal option to extend postpartum Medicaid coverage from 60 days to 12 months after birth, a move Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders called “redundant” due to other coverage options.
The Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies Act of 2025 established presumptive Medicaid eligibility for pregnant Arkansans, expanded Medicaid reimbursements for doulas and community health workers, and set pregnancy-related coverage for specific treatments. Legislators considered, but did not pass, measures to extend postpartum Medicaid coverage to 12 months in 2023 and 2025.
For original reporting from Arkansas Advocate, click here.
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