School-Based Hearing & Vision Screening Provider

Per Arkansas Code Annotated § 6-18-701, public schools must appoint a physician or nurse to make physical examinations of public school students as may be prescribed in the rules of the State Board of Education.  The nature of the examination shall be only to detect contagious or infectious diseases or any defect in sight, hearing, or function or condition of health that may prevent a pupil from receiving the full benefit of schoolwork.

Per Arkansas Code Annotated § 6-18-1501 (a)(1)(A)(i), all children in prekindergarten (Pre-K), kindergarten (K), grades one (1), two (2), four (4), six (6), and eight (8) and all transfer students shall receive an eye and vision screening.

Hearing and Vision screening is a small portion of the wellness check for Medicaid beneficiaries.  Local Education Agencies (LEA) may seek reimbursement from Medicaid for the screenings they perform by enrolling in the Arkansas Medicaid Program as a screening provider for hearing and vision.  Completed Medicaid provider application must be submitted to the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) School Health Services office, ATTN:  MITS Specialist, ade.medicaidintheschools@ade.arkansas.gov.  The MITS staff will review and submit applications to DHS for processing. The Medicaid provider applications are revalidated every five years.

EPSDT Provider Criteria

The LEA must meet all Provider Participation and enrollment requirements outlined in the provider manual, as well as the following:

• The provider must sign an agreement to participate as a Child Health Services (CHS) screening provider per Section 201.000 of the provider manual.
• The provider must employ a licensed registered nurse who has completed training in vision screening conducted by the Arkansas Department of Health, in conjunction with the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Arkansas Eye and Vision Commission.  The RN and LPN must also have completed training in hearing screening conducted by the regional Educational Service Cooperative’s Community Health Nurse Specialist.  A copy of the Registered Nurse’s current license and the certificate of completion of vision and hearing screening training must accompany the application.  All vision and hearing screenings must be performed in accordance with the Arkansas State Board of Nursing School Nurse Practice Guidelines.

 Parental Consent and FERPA

Prior to billing, the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. & 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99; Subpart D §99.30), which protects the personally identifiable information in educational records, requires the LEA to obtain written consent from the student’s parent/guardian to share personally identifiable information with Medicaid.  In addition, 34 CFR Part 99; Subpart A §99.7, specifies that Schools must notify parents and eligible students annually of their rights under FERPA. The actual means of notification (special letter, inclusion in a PTA bulletin, student handbook, or newspaper article) is left to the discretion of each school.

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