HJAR Mar/Apr 2025

40 MAR / APR 2025  I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF ARKANSAS   Healthcare Briefs doulas, and the state does not offer official doula certification. The UAMS Institute for Community Health Innovation is partnering with the Doula Alliance of Arkansas, Ujima Maternity Network, Excel by Eight, the Arkansas Chapter of the Amer- ican Academy of Pediatrics, and hospitals state- wide to develop a doula association and to train 200 new doulas over the next two years. For more information about the doula training program or to apply for a doula training scholar- ship, visit uams.health/doula. UAMS Names Deanna Sasaki- Adams, MD, as Chair of the Department of Neurosurgery The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) College of Medicine named Deanna Sasaki-Adams, MD, MBA, as chair of the Depart- ment of Neurosurgery, effective March 1. Sasaki-Adams currently serves as the Depart- ment of Neurosurgery’s vice chair of Quality and Clinical Operations, medical director of UAMS neurosurgery services, and associate program director for the Neurosurgery Residency Program. She also holds a professor faculty appointment in the department. Sasaki-Adams joined UAMS in 2023 from the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill, where she served as the section chief of cerebro- vascular and skull base neurosurgery. Sasaki-Adams received a medical degree at the University of Wisconsin Medical School. She com- pleted a neurosurgery residency at UNC, serving as chief resident in her final year. She completed a fellowship in skull base and open cerebrovascular neurosurgery at Saint Louis University before join- ing the UNC faculty in 2011. She continued her training with a fellowship in interventional neu- roradiology at UNC in 2013-2015. She earned a Master of Business Administration in the Global Executive MBA Program at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University in 2023. Sasaki-Adams replaces John D. Day, MD, as chair. T. Glenn Pait, MD, director of the UAMS Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Insti- tute, served as interim chair. Arkansas Awarded $17M Grant to Support Maternal Health Initiatives Arkansas has been awarded a $17 million grant, the Transforming Maternal Health (TMaH) Model, from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Center for Medicare and Medic- aid Services (CMS). Applying for the TMaH grant was among the recommendations made by the Strategic Committee for Maternal Health estab- lished by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ execu- tive order last year, and the funds will support key efforts to improve the health of pregnant women, new mothers, and babies, the Arkansas Depart- ment of Human Services (DHS) announced. This grant will provide the funding over 10 years to several state Medicaid agencies, includ- ing Arkansas, with a goal of reducing disparities in access and treatment. The grant is built on three main pillars: access to care, infrastructure, and workforce capacity; quality improvement and safety; and whole-per- son care delivery. Specific investments planned in Arkansas with these funds include: • Analyzing data to better target maternal health services. • Educating providers and pregnant women on the benefits of leveraging doulas, com- munity health workers, and midwives. • Investing in technology to better serve pregnant women and providers. • Building better technology infrastructure to collect and share data tied to maternal health measures. • Redesigning Medicaid reimbursement rates and payment structures, including a focus on incentive payments to providers whose patients have healthier outcomes. • Improving connections between health care providers and community-based organizations like nonprofits and faith- based groups that also serve low-income Arkansas women. DHS will lead the project in coordination with ADH and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). DHS Deputy Secretary for Pro- grams and State Medicaid Director Janet Mann will manage the grant efforts. Baptist Health Family Clinic-LakewoodWelcomes Roger Gillum, MD Roger Gillum, MD, recently joined the team of providers at Baptist Health Family Clinic-Lakewood. Gillum received a medical education from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. He later completed residency training in family med- icine through the Baptist Health–University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Medical Educa- tion Program. Gillum is board certified by the American Board of Family Medicine. Baptist Health Family Clinic-Lakewood is located at 2508 Crestwood Road. It is open Mon- days, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. and Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8 a.m.-7 p.m. UAMS Receives $1.9Million Department of Justice Grant for Emergency Response Program in Little Rock Schools The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ (UAMS) Institute for Digital Health & Innovation has received a three-year, $1.9 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to create a com- munity-based emergency response program Deanna Sasaki-Adams, MD Roger Gillum, MD