FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Health officials, policymakers, and physicians from across the region gathered in Fayetteville on May 1 to discuss one of the most prevalent issues in Arkansas.
"Maternal mortality in Arkansas is the worst in the United States, which is a real crisis, a loss of life, also a loss of economic productivity, and the economic cost to the state," Executive Director of the Institute for Community Health Innovation Pearl Mcelfish said.
According to a study conducted by Heartland Forward, that cost runs high for the state of Arkansas.
"An undesirable birth outcome is extreme premature birth, that costs about $270,000 per birth," Ross DeVol, the founder and CEO of the foundation, said. "Whereas a normal healthy baby that's born might cost the medical system $6,400. So that's a huge cost."
Around $1.8 billion of Arkansas's economy goes towards cases like these, but Arkansans are working toward a plan to change that.
"With existing cost-effective, proven strategies, we could probably reduce it today by 50%," DeVol said.
Ryan Cork with NWA Council said $500 million could be saved and reinvested toward better maternal care in rural areas across Arkansas.
"There are counties within our state that you may have one physician that could deliver a baby and or none," Cork said. "Or you may have to leave the state to deliver a baby just geographically where the nearest birthing center is."
Iris, a new mother of two-month-old Logan said better maternal care would have made a world of a difference during her pregnancy.
"I was almost dying due to HELLP [hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, low platelet count] syndrome, the doctors not putting two and two together, and not listening to what I had to say," she said.
Cork said he believes tangible, doable changes can be made to help reach better outcomes.
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