Enhanced Reporting to help improve problem-solving: Lessons from Arkansas

Reporting that helps states move from data to action

State Medicaid personnel rely on reporting to guide program operations and policy decisions.  

A traditional report typically consists of a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet generated by a data analyst that, while timely and accurate, may lack context, policy analysis, relevant comparisons, visualizations and potential next steps.  

This approach burdens state users with synthesizing and interpreting the data.  

But what if reporting provided more context and could answer questions like: What does the data mean? What trends are emerging? How should we act on the information?  

At the 2026 State HIT Connect Summit, Optum State Government Solutions shared a new reporting method designed to answer these questions and more. Enhanced Reporting from Optum is helping to reshape problem-solving capabilities at the Arkansas Department of Human Services.

Improving interpretability and actionability

The scenario: The Arkansas Department of Human Services wants to know the number of syphilis tests given in the last year to pregnant women who are in the state’s Medicaid program. 

Traditional reporting methods can provide answers but often lack national data for comparison. This requires state personnel to conduct additional research to fully interpret the information.

Enhanced Reporting takes the research further, providing a brief that:

• Builds policy analysis into the data
• Synthesizes results
• Offers improved interpretation and clear action 

To develop an Enhanced Reporting brief, Optum Decision Support Services is guided by clear goals which help:

• Improve interpretability and actionability
• Reduce burden on program staff to specify all needed parameters
• Anticipate program questions 

Anticipating program questions is an ongoing goal reflected in 2 types of briefs:

• Reactive briefs are created in response to an inquiry from the state. The Optum team helps answer the questions and provides additional data and research that is helpful to the client. 
• Proactive briefs are generated without an inquiry from the state. The Optum team monitors publications, news articles, national trends in Medicaid and more to help clients stay current on the issues and anticipate their needs.

A unique approach

Optum DSS approaches Enhanced Reporting with research, collaboration, synthesis and analysis.

This results in a brief, presented in a narrative format and structured in the following way:

1. Question, problem definition
2. Methods
3. Supporting policy and research
4. Data and visualizations
5. Next steps, actionable items, policy recommendations

Example 1: Congenital syphilis reactive brief

The medical director asked for information on congenital syphilis.

“That was the extent of the request,” says Adrienne Nevola. “But with Enhanced Reporting, we think about what else would be helpful.” 

In response, the team developed a reactive brief that included:

1. Illness description
   • Problem definition shows the national trend for cases
   • National case count trend
   • State screening requirements
2. CDC analysis
   • Supporting policy and research reveals the state’s ranking nationally in terms of case counts and its screening requirements
   • Missed opportunities for prevention
3. Cost
   • Estimated cost of illness from peer-reviewed studies
4. Arkansas Medicaid
   • Case counts
   • National ranking
   • Screening rates and timing
   • Enrollment during pregnancy
5. Summary
   • Overview
   • Limitations
   • Next steps

Example 2: Vision screens for children proactive brief

Like all states, Arkansas provides well-child visits through Medicaid. 

A September 2024 article reported that Arkansas is among 5 states with the highest prevalence of visual acuity loss among children. Optum helped determine the state’s rate of vision screening for children and provided a proactive brief containing:

In response, the team developed a reactive brief that included:

1. Medicaid Child Core Set: Well-child visits by state
2. Vision screening: Recommended periodicity schedule
3. Arkansas Medicaid: Vision screens for children ages 5 to 10
4. Summary: Overview, limitations, potential next steps

Making sense of data

By pairing reports with analysis and interpretation, Enhanced Reporting helps states better understand what the data is showing, what it means and how to act on it. This ultimately helps improve problem-solving capabilities.