LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KATV) — A new law in Arkansas aims to help new mothers get access to screening for depression.
Starting January 2024, healthcare providers will be required to ask mothers up to six weeks after giving birth if they want to be screened.
Arkansas General Assemble Act 316 states that a mother can refuse to take the test and that the healthcare provider will record the mother did not want to do it.
It additionally asserts that information collected during the screening process is confidential under the Freedom of Information Act.
Rep. Aaron Pilkington, R-District 45, the lead sponsor of the bill, said the idea for the law came from a paper done by Professor Clare Brown at at University of Arkansas for Medical Services.
Pilkington said the paper illustrated that increasing mental health screenings could prevent poor maternal health outcomes.
Reading that paper, seeing what we could do, one of the obvious decisions was allowing new mothers and expected mothers to have mental health screenings," Pilkington said.
The new law also mandates both private health insurance and government programs like Medicaid to cover the price of screenings.
It's critically important that we have this new law to reimburse for postpartum depression screening," Brown said. "Anytime that something is reimbursed, providers are going to be more likely to do it because they're able to be paid for their services.
Brown also said this new law will have a positive and significant impact on new mothers in Arkansas.
"First I think it brings attention to the importance of mental health," Brown said. "The second thing is I think that early identification of any mental health condition, including depression is critical so that those mothers can receive the care that they need as soon as they can so that they can get on the pathway to recovering."