Baptist Health | Arkansas: Keeping Moms & Babies Healthy through Digital Connectivity & Outreach

About Baptist Health

Baptist Health is a comprehensive health organization in Arkansas with over 300 points of access, including 12 hospitals, 22 urgent care sites, and 75 primary care and specialty care clinics. As the largest not-for-profit health care organization in the state, Baptist Health’s 12,000 employees serve patients throughout the state and into eastern Oklahoma. The organization is known for its groundbreaking treatments, renowned physicians and robust community outreach programs.

Maternal Infant Health Outreach Program

To reduce infant and maternal mortality rates, Baptist Health implemented programs with live nursing support. In 2025, Baptist Health also implemented and expanded the Maternal Infant Health Outreach Worker (MIHOW) Program, which assigns a community health worker to vulnerable mothers.

The service helps new moms by providing patient navigation support and home visits, ensuring they can attend their prenatal and postpartum appointments. Baptist Health provides support in the first and second years of the baby’s life and offers resources for mothers, including lactation consulting and mental health resources.

Baptist Health invested in this program to help improve the overall health and outcomes of moms and babies throughout the state, especially for mothers living in rural communities who may not have access to other prenatal and postnatal care.

Program Results

MIHOW has yielded exciting results for Baptist Health and its patients. Since the program was launched in October 2025, 77% of babies have been delivered at healthy birth weights and only 23% of moms delivered a baby that required care in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Additionally, none of the mothers who participated in the program have had significant postpartum complications.

MIHOW has improved access to prenatal care for parents who would otherwise be unable to access maternal care due to barriers such as a lack of transportation or other limited resources.