Milwaukee – September 17, 2026 -- The Doula Alliance of Arkansas (DA-AR) has secured $860,500 through Arkansas' Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) to place ten certified community-based doulas inside rural clinic care teams, using a coordination platform built by MySwaddle, a maternal health technology company developed by Holista.
Arkansas allocates $149.3 million across 50 rural health awards
Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced the award on August 27 as part of the program's first funding round, which distributed $149.3 million statewide to rural hospitals, health systems, and community organizations. The grant is funded through the federal RHTP's Promoting Access, Coordination, and Transformation (PACT) priority, established under the One Big Beautiful Bill and administered by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Arkansas expects to award roughly $209 million through the program this year and up to $1 billion over five years.
One-year program targets 250 women across five rural regions
The initiative, titled "Access Starts at Home: Rural Maternal Care Coordination and Doula Support," will run for one year and place doulas within clinic care teams across Northwest, North Central, Upper Delta, Lower Delta, and Southwest Arkansas. It is expected to serve approximately 250 pregnant and postpartum women, providing continuous support from early pregnancy through six months after birth.
Nearly half of Arkansas counties qualify as maternity care deserts
Arkansas has 63 of its 75 counties classified as rural, with nearly half considered maternity care deserts lacking a local hospital, birth center, or obstetric provider. DA-AR currently maintains doula coverage in 24 rural counties, where its workforce often serves as the most consistent point of contact for pregnant and postpartum women.
MySwaddle platform links doulas and clinicians in low-bandwidth settings
Each doula will be based at a partner clinic and connected to the care team through MySwaddle's platform, which supports shared communication, documentation, screening, education, and referrals between doulas, participants, and providers. The system is built to function in low-bandwidth environments and includes offline capabilities to address connectivity gaps common in rural and frontier areas.
"Doulas are often the first person a rural mother turns to when something feels wrong, and until now, that knowledge rarely made it back to the clinical team," said Kate Grohall, President and Co-Founder of MySwaddle. "This grant lets us close that gap."
Liyah Wasson, Executive Director of DA-AR, said the funding allows the organization to properly train and compensate doulas, place them inside clinic care teams, and establish direct communication channels with providers.
Findings could inform Medicaid reimbursement pathways for doulas
Data from the grant period is expected to support long-term sustainability planning, including reimbursement pathways created under Arkansas' Certified Community-Based Doula Certification Act of 2025.