HJAR Nov/Dec 2024

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF ARKANSAS I  NOV / DEC 2024 35 Joseph W. Thompson, MD, MPH President and Chief Executive Officer Arkansas Center for Health Improvement recommendations for improving maternal health in our state. I want to support an- other: Let’s expand the state trauma system to include severe maternal morbidity. When maternal health emergencies occur, as with traumatic injuries, it is crucial to get patients to the right place for the right care as quickly as possible. Using the infrastructure already in place for coordination of trauma care to coordinate maternal healthcare would re- quire a minimal expense compared to the savingsArkansas would see in both health- care costs and lives. Some in our general assembly have already floated this idea, but we need to make it a river of support. Arkansas is no longer ranked as one of the worst states for preventable deaths from injuries. Imagine how good it would feel to see us no longer ranked among the worst states for poor maternal health outcomes. n REFERENCES 1 Kaiser Family Foundation. “Maternal Deaths and Mortality Rates per 100,000 Live Births.” Ac- cessed October 2024. https://www.kff.org/other/ state-indicator/maternal-deaths-and-mortality- rates-per-100000-live-births/?currentTimefram e=0&selectedDistributions=maternal-mortality- rate-per-100000-live-births 2 Arkansas Center for Health Improvement. “Severe Maternal Morbidity in Arkansas.” July 2024. https://achi.net/wp-content/ uploads/2024/07/240710B_SMM-IG.pdf 3 American College of Emergency Physicians. “The National Report Card on the State of Emer- gency Medicine: Evaluating the Emergency Care Environment State by State.” Archive.org, Dec. 14, 2008 archive. Accessed October 2024. https:// web.archive.org/web/20081214124416/http :/ www.emreportcard.org/overview.aspx?id=388 4 Arkansas Department of Health. “Designated Trauma Centers.” January 10, 2024. https:// healthy.arkansas.gov/wp-content/uploads/ Designated_Trauma_Centers.pdf 5 Porter, A.; Karim, S.; Bowman, S.M.; et al. “Im- pact of a statewide trauma system on the tri- age, transfer, and inpatient mortality of injured patients.” The Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery 84, No. 5 (May 2018); 771-779. DOI: 10.1097/TA.0000000000001825 6 Arkansas Department of Health. “The Arkan- sas Trauma System: Act 393 of 2009.” May 18, 2023. https://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Home/ FTPDocument?path=%2FAssembly%2FMeeting +Attachments%2F000%2F25999%2FHandout+ 2+-+Dept+of+Health+-+AR+Trauma+System.pdf 7 Lyon, J. “Officials Tout Reduced Rate of Pre- ventable Deaths on 10th Anniversary of Arkan- sas Trauma Center.” Arkansas Center for Health Improvement. January 17, 2020. https://achi. net/newsroom/officials-tout-reduced-rate-of- preventable-deaths-on-10th-anniversary-of- arkansas-trauma-center/ 8 Ely, D.M.; Driscoll, A.K. “Infant Mortality in the United States, 2022: Data From the Period Linked Birth/Infant Death File.” National Vital Statistics Report, National Center for Health Statistics. July 25, 2024. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/ nvsr73/nvsr73-05.pdf 9 March of Dimes. “Nowhere to Go: Maternity Care Deserts Across the US.” 2024. https://www.march ofdimes.org/maternity-care-deserts-report average, and nowwe’re considerably below the national average. That’s a tremendous success story,” former State Health Officer andArkansas Department of Health Director Nate Smith, MD, MPH, said during a January 2020 ceremony at theArkansas State Capitol commemorating the 10th anniversary of the launch of the state trauma system. 7 Getting back to maternal health: Clearly, the more than 400 Arkansas mothers who experience a severe maternal mortality event each year deserve to have the best care we can provide — similar to what the trauma system does for Arkansans injured statewide. Issues with access to maternal healthcare, especially in rural areas, un- doubtedly play a role inArkansas’high rates of maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity, as well as its infant mortality rate, which is the third highest in the nation. 8 Ac- cording to a recent March of Dimes report, 38 of Arkansas’ 75 counties are maternity care deserts, meaning they have no hospitals or birth centers offering obstetric care and no obstetric care providers. 9 The Arkansas Strategic Committee for Maternal Health released a report earlier this year containing many fine “When maternal health emergencies occur, as with traumatic injuries, it is crucial to get patients to the right place for the right care as quickly as possible. Using the infrastructure already in place for coordination of trauma care to coordinate maternal healthcare would require a minimal expense compared to the savings Arkansas would see in both healthcare costs and lives.”