Leaders explain what’s next for maternal health coalition

With a major package of maternal health legislation achieved in the recent regular session of the state legislature, leaders in a broad coalition are turning their attention to the next phases of implementation.

With bipartisan support, lawmakers passed the “Healthy Moms Healthy Babies” bill to address Arkansas’ last-in-the-nation maternal health statistics.

The new law will allow for presumptive Medicaid eligibility for likely candidates; unbundling of payments throughout the pregnancy period so more doctors can see patients more quickly; reimbursement pathways for doulas and community health workers; and higher reimbursement rates for Medicaid deliveries.

Gov. Sarah Sanders worked with a group of stakeholders and legislative leaders, such as Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View, and Rep. Aaron Pilkington, R-Knoxville, to advance the omnibus bill.

Dr. Nirvana Manning, chair of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, said many aspects of the measure will help improve Arkansas’ standing among other states, but presumptive eligibility may be the biggest help.

“I think one of the biggest things is going to be the presumptive eligibility. We know that over 50% of all births in our state are Medicaid eligible. Quite often, they don’t get care until their Medicaid is secured, which often delays care months for many patients,” said Manning. “So with presumptive eligibility, they can get the care, providers know that they will get reimbursed for those services, but most importantly, those patients can get care in the first trimester, which can just change the trajectory of that pregnancy tremendously.”

Ashley Bearden Campbell, executive director of Arkansans for Improving Maternal Health (AIM), agreed.

“We know that when moms are getting the prenatal care that they need, that they’re going to have better outcomes and so I think that this sets them up for a much more positive and healthy pregnancy and postpartum journey.”

Manning and Campbell appeared on this week’s edition of Capitol View and Talk Business & Politics.

Campbell’s nonprofit has already taken a next step in helping raise awareness of the new law. AIM has pulled together two new digital resource guides that are available at her group’s website. Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies Guide and the Guide for New, Expecting Moms were created to help parents understand their rights, access care earlier and more confidently advocate for themselves and their babies.

“We recently released a ‘Healthy Mom’s Healthy Babies Guide’ to really break down what this act does and make sure that moms have access to the resources that make sense to them. I mean, legislation can be really complicated and so we really wanted to make sure that everybody understands exactly what this law does and how it can benefit them,” said Campbell.

Manning said UAMS will be deploying many resources through its statewide network to help guide pregnant families to the assistance provided in the new law. In particular, she sees UAMS helping with large stakeholders, such as hospitals and clinics, on the business side as well as the health side of what’s changed.

“We want to make sure those CEOs, their providers, the people with boots on the ground understand what this means to them. At UAMS, we have a ton of resources so we can work on the billing and coding and kind of hopefully be able to give that to them in a package so that it’s easily digestible and they can hit the ground running and understand what these pieces of legislation will mean for their individual hospitals,” said Manning.

Both women emphasized that more still needs to be done, including addressing a potential gap in coverage for women experiencing post-partum depression and needing extended Medicaid coverage.

Additionally, they will be watching statistics and milestones to see how the new law is working. Manning said last week’s announcement from Heartland Forward to create the Maternal and Child Health Center for Policy and Practice will be a complement to state efforts.

Maternal health champion Olivia Walton announced at the Heartland Summit that the center will help implement Arkansas’ maternal health plan, building on Gov. Sarah Sanders’ executive order and the Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies Act. The center will work alongside more than 120 stakeholders, acting as a convener and technical leader to support initiatives such as reopening labor and delivery units through midwifery-led care and addressing regulatory, staffing and reimbursement challenges.

“I think they do such amazing work out of Heartland,” said Manning. “I think what it will do is hopefully make all of these efforts more cohesive. I think there are so many different pockets and people doing things, I hope that it will not only make it cohesive, but give us data to know where we’re missing the mark and where we need to put effort going forward.”

Campbell said eyeing statistical improvement will be key to bringing future legislation forward.

“It’s definitely about implementation and measuring how these successes are going to combat the statistics that we’ve seen,” she said. “I’m really excited to see a year from now that the maternal mortality rates hopefully have decreased with people like doulas. Now being a part of the care team, I’m really excited and encouraged.

You can watch Manning’s and Campbell’s full interview in the video below.