Maternal and Child Health Resource Repository

Since implementing best practices related to maternal hemorrhaging, Titus Regional Medical Center’s maternal morbidity rate related to blood loss has been reduced significantly.

Homicide was a leading cause of maternal deaths in Louisiana during 2016 and 2017, exceeding any single pregnancy-associated cause, according to a study reported this week in JAMA Pediatrics.

The national maternal mortality rate in 2018 was 17.4 per 100,000 live births, and ranged from 11.8 per 100,000 for Hispanic women to 37.1 per 100,000 for black women, according to data released by the National Center for Health Statistics.

Two subcommittees of the House Education and Labor Committee held a joint hearing titled “Expecting More: Addressing America’s Maternal and Infant Health Crisis,” which focused on strategies to reduce the nation’s maternal mortality rate and eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in maternal and infant health.

U.S. Surgeon General Vice Admiral Jerome Adams, M.D., and Jay Bhatt, D.O., AHA senior vice president and chief medical officer, write that American maternal health must improve, and they outline actions health care leaders should take to improve outcomes.

In this AHA Advancing Health podcast, Ginny Trainor, program director for the AHA’s Better Health for Mothers and Babies initiative, and Robyn Begley, AHA senior vice president and chief nursing officer and AONL CEO, outline AHA’s strategy to address maternal morbidity and mortality. 

The House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee today held a hearing on a number of health care bills, including those that would reauthorize the AHA-supported Healthy Start program and continue Medicaid coverage for non-emergency medical transportation.

On behalf of the AHA Board of Trustees and our team, thank you for everything you do to advance health in America.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services today selected 10 states to receive funding under the Maternal Opioid Misuse Model to help coordinate and integrate health care and other services for pregnant and postpartum Medicaid enrollees with opioid use disorders beginning in 2021.

The American Hospital Association’s Institute for Diversity and Health Equity (IFDHE) and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois (BCBSIL) today announced a joint collaboration and one-year grant program to support hospitals in eliminating health care disparities and working toward ensuring individuals in every community receive safe, equitable and high-quality care.

Robyn Begley, AHA senior vice president and chief nursing officer and CEO of its American Organization for Nursing Leadership, spotlights hospital and health system efforts to improve outcomes for mothers and babies and previews AHA’s Executive Forum on accelerating the momentum.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee this week approved two AHA-supported bills to strengthen maternal care and access to care, including in rural areas.

AHA letter expressing support for the Maternal Health Quality Improvement Act (H.R. 4995) that would authorize grants to implement rural obstetric networks, maternal telehealth programs and a rural maternal care training demonstration. It also contains maternal health provisions from the Lower Health Care Costs Act (S.1895), including funding to promote best practices, educate health care professionals on implicit bias, implement state perinatal quality collaboratives, and deliver integrated health care services to pregnant and postpartum women.

AHA letter expressing support for the Helping Medicaid Offer Maternity Services Act (H.R. 4996) that would give states the option to extend Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program coverage for pregnant and postpartum women from the current 60 days to one year after birth, with a 5% increase in the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage for the first year a state opts to extend the coverage. It also would require the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission to issue a report on access to doula care in Medicaid.

The House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee today approved two bipartisan bills to strengthen maternal care and access to care, including in rural areas.  

Three hospitals teamed up with other community groups to implement local interventions that help promote women’s health and reduce infant mortality gaps.

The Joint Commission last week issued an advisory reviewing its new hospital accreditation standards for preventing maternal hemorrhage and severe hypertension/preeclampsia effective July 1, 2020.

Henry Ford's Women-Inspired Neighborhood program combines the expertise of community health workers with that of certified nurse midwives to connect patients with social services and community support, ultimately reducing preventable infant deaths.

Only one in three U.S. pregnant women receive both the flu and whooping cough vaccines as recommended, according to a Vital Signs report released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The hepatitis C infection rate among women giving birth rose 400% between 2000 and 2015 to 4.1 per 1,000 deliveries, according to a study of hospital discharge data released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.