UAMS Gets $17.5M Grant to Tackle Maternal Health Crisis

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UAMS and Community Health Centers of Arkansas Inc. have been awarded a $17.5 million grant for a study to reduce prenatal inequities.

The grant comes from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, an independent, nonprofit organization that funds comparative clinical effectiveness research to help patients and other stakeholders make more informed decisions.

The study on prenatal inequities will examine the maternal health outcomes of two intervention methods:

• The Enhanced Standard of Care method includes implementing a standard clinical practice of nutritional and gestational weight gain counseling for pregnant women, helping them sign up for WIC and SNAP benefits and providing referrals to additional safety net food organizations in their community.
• The Delivering HOPE method includes the same practices, but also includes grocery delivery of healthy foods to participants’ homes. Grocery delivery is well-established and increasingly covered by insurance companies.

Arkansas is ranked among the worst for maternal health outcomes, food insecurity and infant mortality among U.S. states, UAMS said in a news release. Additionally, about 65% of women in the state are overweight or obese when they become pregnant, one of the highest rates in the nation. They face greater risk of gestational weight gain and its associated complications.

Many pregnant women do not have access to healthy foods, such as fruits and vegetables, lean proteins and whole grains, that promote healthy weight gain during pregnancy. That’s especially true for women with low income in rural areas, who face financial and transportation barriers.

“In order to address the disparities in maternal morbidity and mortality, we must address social determinants of health such as food insecurity,” Pearl McElfish, division director of the UAMS Office of Community Health & Research and co-principal investigator of the study, said in the release. “Results from this study have great potential to improve maternal health outcomes in Arkansas and throughout the U.S.”

UAMS’ partnership with Community Health Centers of Arkansas will give it insights from 11 federally funded nonprofit health centers in the state. The nonprofit primary care association also has more than 150 clinical locations across Arkansas, 121 of which provide maternity care.

“Community-based organizations bring deep knowledge of residents’ lived experience, as well as the factors that affect their health and access to care,”Dr. Nakela L. Cook, executive director of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, said in the release. “UAMS and CHCA will design and conduct research with a greater chance of success to improve maternal health and help move us toward a health system in which all have equitable care and outcomes.”