Legal Notices

The Joint Commission (TJC) conducts accreditation surveys of any TJC-accredited or certified Baptist Health program or hospital. These surveys are unannounced.

The purpose of the survey is to evaluate the organization’s compliance with nationally established Joint Commission and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) standards. 

Joint Commission standards deal with organization quality and safety-of-care issues and the safety of the environment in which care is provided. Anyone believing that he or she has pertinent and valid information about such matters may request a public information interview with the Joint Commission’s field representatives at the time of the survey. Information presented at the interview will be carefully evaluated for relevance to the accreditation process. The request must also indicate the nature of the information to be provided at the interview.

For our Joint Commission Accredited locations of Little Rock, North Little, Conway, Fort Smith and Van Buren, you may also contact The Joint Commission:

By phone at 1-800-994-6610

Online at www.jointcommission.org using the “Report a Patient Safety Event” link in the “Action Center” on the home page of the website

By fax to the Office of Quality and Patient Safety at 630-792-5636

By mail to
The Joint Commission Office of Quality and Patient Safety (OQPS),
One Renaissance Boulevard
Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois 60181.

The Joint Commission’s Office of Quality Monitoring will acknowledge your requests. An account representative will contact the individual requesting the public information interview prior to survey, indicating the location, date, and time of the interview and the name of the surveyor who will conduct the interview

We attempt to keep the content on our web site current; however, because information changes rapidly in the healthcare field, the site should not be relied upon as comprehensive or error-free. Individuals are encouraged to consult a qualified healthcare provider for medical advice. The Baptist Health website is intended as an educational and informational tool. It is not intended to render diagnoses of diseases or treat illness. If you feel you have symptoms of any of the disease processes or illnesses you find on this site, please visit your personal physician. The information presented on this site does not constitute an attempt to practice medicine.

Baptist Health and its subsidiaries have a long-standing reputation for providing quality patient care, conducting ethical business practices and adhering to all state and federal rules and regulations. In addition, the government has issued guidelines for healthcare providers to use in preventing, identifying and correcting any potential fraud and abuse. Baptist Health has developed a system-wide compliance program to meet the government’s requirements and has appointed a Compliance Officer who is responsible for follow-up on any concerns reported. Click here to download a PDF of the Compliance Charter.

• Dr. David Shenker – Vice President of Medical Affairs, Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock
• Brent Beaulieu – Chief Financial Officer, Baptist Health
• Mary Jo Brinkman – Facility Compliance and Privacy Associate, Baptist Health Van Buren
• Julie Carpenter – Vice President of Revenue Cycle
• Mike Coburn – Internal Audit Manager, Baptist Health
• Michelle Diedrich – Chief Nursing Officer, Baptist Health Little Rock
• Cathy Dickinson – Chief Human Resources Officer, Baptist Health
• Jason Eakin – Director of Pharmacy, Baptist Health Conway
• Lavanda Gangluff – System Director of Case Management, Baptist Health
• Lori Lewis – Facility Compliance and Privacy Associate, Baptist Health Fort Smith
• Kourtney Matlock – Corporate Vice President, Continuum of Care, Baptist Health 
• Keith Owen – Vice President of Cardiovascular Services, Baptist Health
• Mike Perkins – President, Baptist Health North Little Rock
• Lauren Reynolds – Associate Director of Nursing, Baptist Health Stuttgart
• Will Rusher – CEO/CCO, Arkansas Health Group and Practice Plus
• Rick Shelton – Administrator/Director, Baptist Health Home Health and Hospice Network
• Greg Stubblefield – President, Baptist Health Extended Care Hospital
• Cara Wade – Director of Public Relations, Baptist Health
• Troy Wells – President and CEO
• W.M. (Bill) Whatley – Corporate Compliance Officer, Baptist Health
• Dana Williams – Privacy Officer, Baptist Health
• Patrick Young – Associate General Counsel, Baptist Health

You may direct questions, comments or concerns to the Compliance Department through one of the following means:

Mail:
Compliance Department
Baptist Health
9601 Baptist Health Drive
Little Rock, AR 72205

Phone:
Call Baptist Health’s toll-free, confidential Compliance Line at 1-800-991-0888
Contact the Corporate Compliance Officer, William Whatley, at (501) 202-1323

Confidential Web Portal:

www.lighthouse-services.com/baptist-health 

Email:
Comply@baptist-health.org

HELPFUL LINKS
Baptist Health Code of Ethical Conduct
Código de Conducta Ética
Education Concerning False Claims Liability, Anti-Retaliation, Protections, and Detecting and Responding to Fraud
Non-Retaliation Policy
Non-Discrimination Policy

For additional information on Corporate Compliance and other areas of assistance, you may visit any of these sites:

GOVERNMENT LINKS
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS)
Office of the Inspector General(OIG)
HIPAA Privacy

ASSOCIATIONS/ORGANIZATIONS
Assoc. for American Medical Colleges-Government Affairs (AAMC)
American Medical Association (AMA)
Health Care Compliance Association (HCCA)
Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) 
National Healthcare Antifraud Association (NHCAA)

Notice Informing Individuals About Nondiscrimination and Accessibility Requirements:

Discrimination is Against the Law

Baptist Health complies with applicable Federal civil rights laws and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex (consistent with the scope of sex discrimination described at 45 CFR § 92.101(a)(2)).  Baptist Health does not exclude people or treat them less favorably because of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex.

Baptist Health provides people with disabilities reasonable modifications and free appropriate auxiliary aids and services to communicate effectively with us, such as:

• Qualified sign language interpreters
• Written information in other formats (large print, audio, accessible electronic formats, other formats).

Baptist Health also provides free language assistance services to people whose primary language is not English, which may include:

• Qualified interpreters
• Information written in other languages.

If you need reasonable modifications, appropriate auxiliary aids and services, or language assistance services, contact your care team.  

If you believe that Baptist Health has failed to provide these services or discriminated in another way on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex, you can file a grievance with: Patient Advocacy, 9601 Baptist Health Drive Little Rock, AR  72205, 501 202 1961, PatientAdvocacy@baptist-health.org.  You can file a grievance in person or by mail, fax, or email. If you need help filing a grievance, a patient advocate is available to help you. 

You can also file a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights, electronically through the Office for Civil Rights Complaint Portal, available at https://ocrportal.hhs.gov/ocr/portal/lobby.jsf, or by mail or phone at:

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

200 Independence Avenue, SW

Room 509F, HHH Building

Washington, D.C. 20201 

1-800-368-1019, 800-537-7697 (TDD)

Complaint forms are available at http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/office/file/index.html. 

This notice is also available at Baptist Health’s website: https://www.baptist-health.com/legal-notices

NOTICE OF AVAILABILITY OF LANGUAGE ASSISTIVE SERVICES AND AUXILIARY AIDS AND SERVICES

ENGLISH

ATTENTION: If you speak [insert language], free language assistance services are available to you. Appropriate auxiliary aids and services to provide information in accessible formats are also available free of charge. Call 1-877-799-1641 (TTY: 711) or speak to your provider.”

SPANISH

ATENCIÓN: Si habla español, tiene a su disposición servicios gratuitos de asistencia lingüística. También están disponibles de forma gratuita ayuda y servicios auxiliares apropiados para proporcionar información en formatos accesibles. Llame al 1-877-799-1641 (TTY: 711) o hable con su proveedor.

VIETNAMESE

LƯU Ý: Nếu bạn nói tiếng Việt, chúng tôi cung cấp miễn phí các dịch vụ hỗ trợ ngôn ngữ. Các hỗ trợ dịch vụ phù hợp để cung cấp thông tin theo các định dạng dễ tiếp cận cũng được cung cấp miễn phí. Vui lòng gọi theo số 1-877-799-1641 (Người khuyết tật: 711 hoặc trao đổi với người cung cấp dịch vụ của bạn.”

MARSHALLESE

IKIJEN: Ne kwõj kajin Majol, ewõr jibañ ejellok wonnen ñan kwe ilo kajin eo am. Ebar wõr kein roñjak im jibañ ko rekkar ñan lewaj melele ilo wāween ko kwõmaron loi im ejellok wonnen. Kall ae lok 1-877-799-1641 (TTY: 711) ñe ejab kenono ibben armij ak opij eo ej lewaj jerbal in jjibañ ñan kwe.”

CHINESE

注意：如果您說[中文]，我們可以為您提供免費語言協助服務。也可以免費提供適當的輔助工具與服務，以無障礙格式提供資訊。請致電 1-877-799-1641（TTY:711）或與您的提供者討論。」

LAOTIAN

ເຊີນຊາບ: ຖ້າທ່ານເວົ້າພາສາ ລາວ, ຈະມີບໍລິການຊ່ວຍດ້ານພາສາແບບບໍ່ເສຍຄ່າໃຫ້ທ່ານ.  ມີເຄື່ອງຊ່ວຍ ແລະ ການບໍລິການແບບບໍ່ເສຍຄ່າທີ່ເໝາະສົມເພື່ອໃຫ້ຂໍ້ມູນໃນຮູບແບບທີ່ສາມາດເຂົ້າເຖິງໄດ້. ໂທຫາເບີ 1-877-799-1641 (TTY: 711) ຫຼື ລົມກັບຜູ້ໃຫ້ບໍລິການຂອງທ່ານ.”

TAGALOG

PAALALA: Kung nagsasalita ka ng Tagalog, magagamit mo ang mga libreng serbisyong tulong sa wika. Magagamit din nang libre ang mga naaangkop na auxiliary na tulong at serbisyo upang magbigay ng impormasyon sa mga naa-access na format. Tumawag sa 1-877-799-1641 (TTY: 711) o makipag-usap sa iyong provider.”

ARABIC

تنبيه: إذا كنت تتحدث اللغة العربية، فستتوفر لك خدمات المساعدة اللغوية المجانية. كما تتوفر وسائل مساعدة وخدمات مناسبة لتوفير المعلومات بتنسيقات يمكن الوصول إليها مجانًا. اتصل على الرقم 1-  x 1-877-799-1641 (TTY: 711) أو تحدث إلى مقدم الخدمة”.

GERMAN

ACHTUNG: Wenn Sie Deutsch sprechen, stehen Ihnen kostenlose Sprachassistenzdienste zur Verfügung. Entsprechende Hilfsmittel und Dienste zur Bereitstellung von Informationen in barrierefreien Formaten stehen ebenfalls kostenlos zur Verfügung. Rufen Sie 1-877-799-1641 (TTY: 711) an oder sprechen Sie mit Ihrem Provider.“

FRENCH

ATTENTION : Si vous parlez Français, des services d’assistance linguistique gratuits sont à votre disposition. Des aides et services auxiliaires appropriés pour fournir des informations dans des formats accessibles sont également disponibles gratuitement. Appelez le 1-877-799-1641 (TTY: 711) ou parlez à votre fournisseur. »

HMONG

LUS CEEV TSHWJ XEEB: Yog hais tias koj hais Lus Hmoob muaj cov kev pab cuam txhais lus pub dawb rau koj. Cov kev pab thiab cov kev pab cuam ntxiv uas tsim nyog txhawm rau muab lus qhia paub ua cov hom ntaub ntawv uas tuaj yeem nkag cuag tau rau los kuj yeej tseem muaj pab dawb tsis xam tus nqi dab tsi ib yam nkaus. Hu rau 1-877-799-1641 (TTY: 711) los sis sib tham nrog koj tus kws muab kev saib xyuas kho mob.”

KOREAN

주의: [한국어]를 사용하시는 경우 무료 언어 지원 서비스를 이용하실 수 있습니다. 이용 가능한 형식으로 정보를 제공하는 적절한 보조 기구 및 서비스도 무료로 제공됩니다. 1-877-799-1641(TTY: 711)번으로 전화하거나 서비스 제공업체에 문의하십시오.”

PORTGUESE

ATENÇÃO: Se você fala [inserir idioma], serviços gratuitos de assistência linguística estão disponíveis para você. Auxílios e serviços auxiliares apropriados para fornecer informações em formatos acessíveis também estão disponíveis gratuitamente. Ligue para 1-877-799-1641 (TTY: 711) ou fale com seu provedor.”

JAPANESE

注：日本語を話される場合、無料の言語支援サービスをご利用いただけます。アクセシブル（誰もが利用できるよう配慮された）な形式で情報を提供するための適切な補助支援やサービスも無料でご利用いただけます。1-877-799-1641（ TTY: 711）までお電話ください。または、ご利用の事業者にご相談ください。

HINDI

ध्यान दें: यदि आप हिंदी बोलते हैं, तो आपके लिए निःशुल्क भाषा सहायता सेवाएं उपलब्ध होती हैं। सुलभ प्रारूपों में जानकारी प्रदान करने के लिए उपयुक्त सहायक साधन और सेवाएँ भी निःशुल्क उपलब्ध हैं। 1-877-799-1641 (TTY: 711) पर कॉल करें या अपने प्रदाता से बात करें।”

GUJARATI

ધ્યાન આપો: જો તમે ગુજરાતી બોલતા હો તો મફત ભાષાકીય સહાયતા સેવાઓ તમારા માટે ઉપલબ્ધ છે. યોગ્ય ઑક્ઝિલરી સહાય અને ઍક્સેસિબલ ફૉર્મેટમાં માહિતી પૂરી પાડવા માટેની સેવાઓ પણ વિના મૂલ્યે ઉપલબ્ધ છે. 1-877-799-1641 (TTY: 711) પર કૉલ કરો અથવા તમારા પ્રદાતા સાથે વાત કરો.”

October 1, 2024

Patient safety is our first priority. Please follow our simple rules when you bring your service animal to our facilities.

What is a service animal?

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a service animal is defined as an animal that has been specifically trained to do work or perform tasks for an individual with a disability. The task(s) performed by the animal must be directly related to the person’s disability.

Are emotional support, therapy, comfort, or companion animals considered service animals under the ADA?

No. These terms are used to describe animals that provide comfort just by being with a person. If the animal has NOT been trained to perform a specific job or task, it does NOT qualify as a service animal under the ADA. If the emotional support animal HAS been trained to perform a task related to the person’s disability, that animal WOULD qualify as a service animal.

 Please note that there are some limited cases where an animal that is not considered a service animal may visit a hospitalized patient. These cases must be approved in advance by hospital leadership, please speak with your care team for details.

Can I bring my service animal to my appointment, emergency department, or inpatient stay?

Baptist Health welcomes your service animal during your visit to any of our facilities. We encourage you to talk with staff about any questions you may have.

Your service animal must be:

• Healthy, clean and groomed (no fleas, ticks, or sores)
• House broken
• Under your control (leash, harness, or other effective controls)
• Well behaved (no uncontrolled barking, biting, or scratching)

Does my service animal need to be vaccinated?

Your service animal must be vaccinated (shots) as required by local, county and state requirements. Staff may require you to show proof of vaccinations for your service animal as required by local law.

Do I need to keep the service animal on a leash?

Service animals should be controlled with leashes, harness or tether. If you are not able to hold a leash, or if the leash would prevent the animal from performing its task, the service animal must be under your control through voice or hand commands at all times. Please tell anyone who approaches your service animal that they are interfering with your service animals ability to do their job.

What should I bring with me for my service animal?

• Food, water and medicine needed by your service animal
• Leash, harness or tether
• Plastic bags for solid waste

What questions will the staff ask me about my service animal?

The staff may ask what work or task has the animal been trained to perform to help you.

Who is responsible for the care of my service animal during my visit/stay?

You or your designee are responsible for feeding, toileting, and watching over the service animal. Johns Hopkins is not responsible to watch over or otherwise care for the service animal.

For the safety of your service animal, we will ask you for the name of a person to contact in case you are not able to communicate. Make sure to let the staff know about any of your arrangements to take care of the service animal if you cannot take care of the animal. We will also ask for a source of payment in case your service animal needs care or housing.

Visiting or living in a healthcare facility likely increases the risk of the service animal acquiring an infection. The healthcare facility is not responsible for costs related to an acquired infection.

Are there locations where my service animal is not allowed?

Service animals are not allowed in areas where they are at risk to patients or themselves. These areas include but are not limited to:

i. Inpatient

1. Rooms where the patient is on transmission, isolation, burn or transplant precautions 
2. Intensive care units, oncology unit, psychiatric unit or other restricted access units 
3. In a room while a sterile technique is being used on a patient 
4. In a room where radiation exposure is likely 

ii. Clinics 

1. In a room while sterile technique is being used on a patient 
2. In a room where a radiation exposure is likely

iii. Air/ground ambulances and routine transport vehicles 

iv. Service animals are generally permitted unless the animal’s presence would cause unsafe crowding/conditions or would interfere with the staff’s ability to treat or transport the patient.

Is there a pet relief area for my service animal?

Please ask the staff for the nearest dog walking area. You are responsible to pick up solid waste in a plastic bag and throw it away in an outside trash can.

What happens if my service animal becomes a threat to others, bites or scratches someone at the facility?

You may be asked to remove your service animal from the facility if you cannot control them. If your service animal bites or scratches another person we will follow local and state reporting requirements.