Your privacy and safety are our top priorities. Get answers to your questions, understand your rights, and access support resources.
If you're experiencing a medical emergency or crisis, immediate help is available 24/7.
Call right away for a medical emergency or if you or someone else is in immediate danger.
Call immediately if:
24/7 support for mental health crises, substance use concerns, or if you need someone to talk to.
Suicide & Crisis Lifeline 988
Call or text 24/7 for free, confidential support during any mental health, substance use, or emotional crisis.
Prefer to text? Text 988
Text 988 to reach a trained crisis counselor any time, day or night.
Free, confidential, 24/7 support
Visit urgent care for:
If you have questions about testing, treatment, or resources but it's not an emergency, you can schedule an appointment at a local clinic, contact your healthcare provider, or use the testing locator on this site.
Get in touch with the right resource for your needs. Ask each service about costs, eligibility, and privacy.
Questions about this website, resources, or general information about STI prevention and testing.
Licensed healthcare professionals and STI program staff can request clinical decision support through the STD Clinical Consultation Network. Training resources are available in Continuing Education.
SAMHSA National Helpline — free, confidential, 24/7 treatment referral and information for substance use and mental health.
1-800-662-HELP (4357) FindTreatment.gov — treatment locatorFree interpretation is available at Arkansas health units. Sexual-health resources in Spanish / recursos de salud sexual en español:
National Coalition for Sexual Health — Recursos en Español CDC — Información sobre las ETS (español) Guía "Toma el control de tu salud sexual" (PDF)Free, confidential hotlines and websites for sexual health, crisis support, and someone to talk to.
| Who | Call, text or visit | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Planned Parenthood National Sexual Health Hotline | 1-800-230-PLAN (7526) | Counseling for STDs, pregnancy, and other sexual health issues. Call to be directed to a Planned Parenthood near you. Available Mon–Fri or as local center hours permit. |
| CDC-INFO | 1-800-CDC-INFO (232-4636)TTY: 1-888-232-6348 | Answers to questions about personal health, including HIV and other STDs. Available Monday–Friday, 7 a.m.–7 p.m. Central, excluding federal holidays. English and Spanish available. |
| American Sexual Health Association STD Hotline | 1-919-361-8488 | Anonymous, confidential information on sexually transmitted diseases and how to prevent them, plus referrals to clinical and other services. Available in English. |
| The Trevor Lifeline | 1-866-4-U-TREVOR (488-7386) | 24-hour crisis and suicide-prevention support for LGBTQ young people. A chatline is also available at thetrevorproject.org. |
| Arkansas Coalition Against Domestic Violence | domesticpeace.com | If intimate-partner or domestic violence makes it hard to talk about testing or your results safely, ACADV connects you to local Arkansas support. In immediate danger, call 911. |
| The STI Project | thestiproject.com | Sexual-health information, support groups, and a directory of other national hotlines and resources. |
You can get tested even if you have no insurance or money. Here's what to know.
When you get tested or treated for STIs, your health information is protected by law. Here's what that means.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) protects your medical information.
Access depends on your care, authorizations, and legal requirements. For example:
Clinicians are required to report certain positive results of communicable diseases, which includes STIs. Under Arkansas Code 20 CAR § 102-122, clinicians and labs must report the following:
Not every testing site has to follow HIPAA. Here is how it works:
| Where you get tested | What the HIPAA rule is |
|---|---|
| Covered entities — health plans and qualifying healthcare providers | Health plans and providers that conduct specified electronic transactions must follow HIPAA; other organizations may also be covered. |
| A visit without insurance billing | Paying cash or receiving free care does not determine whether the provider is covered by HIPAA. |
| Ask your clinic | Ask whether HIPAA applies, how records are protected, and which other privacy laws apply. HHS covered-entity guidance |
Discuss your concerns with whomever is testing you so that you understand your rights.
Important: If you use insurance for testing or treatment, the insurance company will receive a billing statement. This may include:
Many clinics offer free or low-cost STI testing that doesn't require insurance. This may avoid a claim being sent to your insurer, but clinic records and legal reporting rules still apply. Ask about charges, communications, and confidentiality before the visit.
Find testing clinics →If you test positive for an STI, healthcare providers may offer partner notification services to alert your recent sexual partners so they can get tested and treated.
We're committed to protecting your privacy. Here's what you need to know in plain language.
This website is for information and support. It is not a patient portal, and it does not ask you to enter your name, contact details, or any health information to browse it.
This site does not use optional analytics or advertising trackers. Fonts are served by this website. Your browser and the website host may process connection information. Links to clinics and other websites have their own privacy practices.
When you contact us or a clinic directly, or when you receive care, different privacy rules apply to that interaction — see health-information privacy and reporting rights.
This website does not collect personal health information.
This site does not require optional analytics or advertising cookies.
Everyone should be able to use this site. Here is the standard we build to, and how to tell us when something doesn't work.
We build this site to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, Level AA: readable text and color contrast, pages you can use with a keyboard alone, and content a screen reader can follow. The site has not had an independent accessibility audit, so we do not claim it meets that standard on every page yet.
If any part of this site is hard to use — or you need something from it in another format, such as large print, plain text, or read aloud — tell us and we will get it to you another way. It helps if you can include the address of the page and what happened.
Email Thomasine.Kelley@arkansas.gov or call 501-280-4532. Free interpretation is available at Arkansas health units; Spanish-language resources are listed under Language Assistance above.