HJAR Jan/Feb 2025

30 JAN / FEB 2025  I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF ARKANSAS   Healthcare Briefs Scorecard will raise awareness about the need for stakeholders to work together on improving maternal health in Arkansas,” said Jennifer Cal- laghan-Koru, PhD, an associate professor at the UAMS Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health and director of the PRIMROSE Project. Maternal health stakeholders can use the data to plan pro- grams, understand what factors influence data indicators in maternal health and advocate for change. Maternal mortality review committees (MMRCs) are part of a national strategy to improve mater- nal outcomes in the U.S. by generating data on the causes of maternal deaths and developing recommendations to prevent such outcomes. However, getting MMRCs’ findings into the hands of providers can prove tricky. In a research letter published earlier this year, Callaghan-Koru and colleagues reported that fewer than one in three labor and delivery staff in Arkansas were aware of MMRC findings. UAMS researchers with the PRIMROSE Project also assessed 80 maternal health dashboards from various state and local health organizations in the U.S. and found that only two dashboards incorporated data from MMRCs, despite find- ings that MMRC data can contribute to reducing maternal mortality. “The data for understanding maternal health in the United States comes from a variety of differ- ent sources,” said Callaghan-Koru. “Most of the maternal health data sites in other states include data from only one or two sources. The biggest opportunity we saw to improve maternal health data access was to provide a one-stop shop for key indicators from four distinct data sources. We also provide explanations of why the indicators are important, where the data come from and what their limitations are.” Maternal healthcare leaders in Arkansas are already seeing the benefits of accessing data through the scorecard. “The Arkansas Maternal Health Scorecard gives providers, patients or anyone interested in maternal health in Arkansas an easy-to-read, fac- tual account of the needs in Arkansas,” said Nir- vana Manning, MD, who heads UAMS’ Depart- ment of Obstetrics and Gynecology. “This new resource will greatly benefit the ongoing collab- orative work to improve our state’s outcomes for mothers and babies.” The dashboard can be accessed online at https://ar.maternalhealth.us . Preksha Vankawala, MD, Joins Baptist Health Gastroenterology Clinic Baptist Health Gastroenterology Clinic in Little Rock recently welcomed gastroenterologist Prek- sha Vankawala, MD. Vankawala earned a medical education from the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine. She completed residency training in internal medicine and a fellowship in gastroenterology at Jackson Memorial Hospital/University of Miami as well as an advanced endoscopy fellowship at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center of Dallas. Vankawala is board-certified in internal medi- cine and gastroenterology. Baptist Health Gastroenterology Clinic at 9501 Baptist Health Drive, Suite 900, is open Monday- Friday from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. It is located off Inter- state 630, in Medical Towers II on the campus of Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock. Arkansas Department of Human Services Names McDonald as NewChief of Staff Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS) Secretary Kristi Putnam announced that Lori McDonald has been promoted to serve as chief of staff for the agency. McDonald, who previously served as assistant deputy director and deputy chief of staff of legis- lative affairs, will fill a key leadership role on DHS’s executive team, acting as the primary point of contact for legislators, elected officials, and other state agencies, and developing and managing special projects across various programs that DHS oversees. McDonald succeeds Mitch Rouse. Rouse, an attorney who previously served as chief counsel for DHS before becoming chief of staff last year, is leaving the agency to enter into private practice. McDonald has served in several different roles over more than 20 years with DHS, including pro- gram coordinator, program manager, and pro- gram administrator. McDonald began her career with DHS in 2003 when she was hired as a program coordinator within the Office of Chief Counsel (OCC), and she was promoted to a program manager in 2014. In 2017, she was promoted again to program admin- istrator, where she tracked legislation affecting DHS and served as a liaison between the agency and elected officials. McDonald began serving as assistant deputy director and deputy chief of staff of legislative affairs in January 2023. In this role, she has supported an array of legislative efforts and managed a team focused on constit- uent services. Baptist Health Specialty Clinic-Arkadelphia Adds Sean Champion, MD Sean Champion, MD, is now accept- ing new patients at Baptist Health Specialty Clinic-Arkadelphia. Champion graduated with a Bachelor of Sci- ence in Medical Technology from the University of Utah before earning a Doctor of Medicine from St. George’s University in Grenada, West Indies. Preksha Vankawala, MD Sean Champion, MD