Closing the Maternal Health Gap: How Real-Time Data Is Saving Lives in Arkansas

At this year’s Civitas Networks for Health Conference in Anaheim, one session drew a packed room and plenty of note-taking: “Connecting Care for Moms and Babies in Arkansas: SHARE HIE’s Role in Maternal Health.”

What unfolded wasn’t another policy update or technology demo. It was a real-world account of how a statewide health information exchange (HIE) is using data to tackle one of the country’s most urgent public health challenges—maternal mortality.

A Crisis That Data Alone Can’t Solve

Arkansas faces one of the most severe maternal health crises in the nation. It leads the country in maternal mortality and ranks near the bottom in WIC participation. Nearly half of its 75 counties qualify as maternal health deserts, and five hospitals have closed their labor and delivery units since 2020.

Medicaid covers roughly half of all births in the state, yet postpartum coverage ends after just 60 days. Within two months, about 40 percent of new mothers lose access to care entirely.

Leaders from the Arkansas Department of Health’s Office of Health Information Technology, which operates SHARE HIE, framed the problem not as a lack of data—but a lack of connection. The information existed; it simply wasn’t flowing between the people and programs that could use it to intervene early.

From Alerts to Action

SHARE’s team set out to connect those dots. They designed a statewide system that turns clinical and social data into real-time signals for action.

• Delivery discharge alerts identify new mothers immediately after birth, triggering proactive postpartum outreach within days.

• WIC eligibility integration through Direct Secure Messaging allows staff to reach families in their preferred language—English, Spanish, or Marshallese—closing gaps in nutrition support.

• Postpartum call center nurses use HIE data to check on physical recovery, emotional well-being, and infant health, referring mothers to lactation services, mental health providers, or community resources.

• Foster care alerts notify pediatricians when custody changes occur, ensuring children don’t lose continuity of care.

• Newborn screening results are now delivered electronically back into the ordering facility’s EHR, cutting manual entry and turnaround time.

What used to be fragmented, paper-driven, and slow has become a synchronized network of outreach and follow-up—one that connects hospitals, public health programs, and community supports in near real time.

When the HIE Becomes a Safety Net

The Arkansas model redefines the role of an HIE. Instead of acting as a passive repository of health data, SHARE now functions as the operational backbone of a maternal health safety net.

By linking hospital ADT feeds, Medicaid eligibility, and public health data sources, SHARE created a unified picture of maternal care across the state. That visibility lets county health units, WIC staff, and social workers coordinate services without waiting for manual updates or faxed forms.

It’s interoperability with impact—designed for the moments that matter most.

Blueprint for the Next Generation of Maternal Health Systems

For other states, the Arkansas example offers a blueprint for how to leverage existing HIE infrastructure to power whole-person maternal health models.

Momentum is growing nationally thanks to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Transforming Maternal Health (TMaH) initiative. TMaH is investing $65 million across up to 15 states to improve maternal outcomes by expanding community-based care, addressing racial and geographic disparities, and modernizing data systems that track maternal health indicators.

In short, it’s funding the kind of last-mile interoperability work that makes the Arkansas story possible—real-time data sharing, cross-sector collaboration, and maternal health equity.

Key design principles stand out from the SHARE model:

Principle	Why It Matters	Example from SHARE
Real-time data	Rapid interventions depend on timely alerts.	Delivery discharge notifications trigger outreach within 48 hours.
Cross-sector collaboration	Public health, Medicaid, and social services must share the same playbook.	Medicaid and WIC teams exchange eligibility data through HIE connections.
Privacy and consent first	Trust is foundational for participation.	Mothers understand how data is used for coordination and support.
Local workflows, not new portals	Tools must fit existing capacity.	County health units use Direct Secure Messaging—no new platforms required.

These aren’t futuristic technologies—they’re governance and workflow decisions that turn interoperability from concept into care delivery.

Beyond Dashboards: The Human Side of the Last Mile

The Arkansas session echoed a theme that surfaced repeatedly throughout the Civitas Conference: technology isn’t the problem. The real work happens at the last mile—among the public health nurses, social workers, community health workers, and local administrators who use data to reach families in need.

The success of SHARE’s maternal health initiative lies in empowering those users. Interoperability succeeds not when a system connects, but when a mother receives a call, a resource, or a referral at exactly the right moment.

The Road Ahead

SHARE is already expanding its postpartum monitoring to include hospital readmissions within 90 days of delivery, creating a feedback loop for continuous improvement.

For states pursuing similar goals through TMaH or Medicaid 1115 waivers, the path forward is clear: use real-time data exchange to bridge maternal health, behavioral health, and social care systems. The technology exists—the next stretch of the journey is operational.

Because in maternal health, interoperability isn’t a buzzword. It’s a lifeline.