Maternal and Child Health Resource Repository

Racial and ethnic disparities in U.S. maternal mortality may be larger than previously reported, according to a study published by the American Journal of Public Health.

The miscarriage rate for nearly 2,500 women who received at least one dose of the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines before or during the first 20 weeks of pregnancy was about 13%, similar to the 11%-16% expected miscarriage rate in the general population, according to an analysis of data from the v-safe pregnancy registry released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

St. Peter’s Health in Helena, Mont., partnered with Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies—the Montana Coalition to connect patients experiencing perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, and their families, with community resources to support their needs.

The Health Resources and Services Administration yesterday awarded $85.5 million to expand substance use disorder prevention, treatment and recovery services in rural areas. It also awarded $2.9 million to test rural maternal and obstetrics care models, and $760,000 to identify key rural health issues in certain Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York counties. 

Learn how AHA members are using digital solutions to improve perinatal care and outcomes for moms and their families in this series of seven-minute interviews with experts from AVIA, Providence St. Joseph Health, Boston Medical Center, Froedtert & The Medical College of Wisconsin, CommonSpirit Health, MedStar Health and Connecticut Children’s.

The next generation of moms and families are more-frequently experiencing new tech-based approaches to improving one’s pregnancy or birthing journey.

Digital solutions allow care teams to use more standardized protocols, improve clinical decision-making, increase collaboration and communication among providers, mothers and their families. To explore the use of such solutions by health care organizations, Priya Bathija, vice president of AHA’s Strategic Initiatives hosts seven-minute conversations with seven experts, representing AVIA, Providence St. Joseph Health, Boston Medical Center, Froedtert & The Medical College of Wisconsin, CommonSpirit Health, MedStar Health and Connecticut Children’s. The series also highlights ways technology-enabled services improve health care access, and perinatal care and outcomes.

Sutter Health’s Pregnancy & Childbirth Services improved maternal health outcomes by reducing first-birth C-section rates, engaging mothers and their families through the process

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services launched the Infant Well-Child Visit Learning Collaborative, a webinar series and affinity group to help state Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Programs increase well-child visits for infants from birth to 12 months old.

St. Peter’s Health, a non-profit health system in Helena, Montana, serves over 97,000 residents across five counties. The system’s Taking Care of You program connected more than 300 patients experiencing perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, and their families, with community resources to support their needs.

In a letter to Representative Lauren Underwood, the AHA expresses support for the Child Suicide Prevention and Lethal Means Safety Act.

Nationwide Children’s launched a national movement On Our Sleeves to break stigmas around children’s mental health in 2018, and in March 2020 opened Big Lots Behavioral health pavilion.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee today advanced two AHA-supported bills to enhance maternal health care quality and outcomes, including in rural areas.

The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health voted to advance to the full committee a number of AHA-supported bills focused on maternal health and social determinants of health.

In a letter to Representatives Robin L. Kelly and Larry Bucshon, the AHA express support for H.R. 4387, the Maternal Health Quality Improvement Act.

Sutter Health is a not-for-profit integrated health delivery system that operates 23 acute care hospitals and over 200 clinics in Northern California, with engagement in 30,000 births each year. Through its pregnancy and delivery quality improvement program, Sutter implemented continuous labor support, improved collaboration between care team members and reduced C-section and early-labor admission rates.

The AHA invites hospitals and health systems to participate in the Better Maternal Outcomes Improvement Sprint, a free, six-week program beginning July 27 that will focus on using huddles, checklists and debriefs to improve maternal health outcomes and equity.

To mark National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shared new resources as part of its Hear Her campaign, which seeks to raise awareness of potentially life-threatening warning signs during and after pregnancy and improve communication between patients and their health care providers.

The National Institutes of Health announced it will award up to $400,000 to fund groups or individuals looking to design effective, innovative methods for identifying complication risks in first-time pregnancies.

The Infectious Diseases Clinical Research Consortium has begun enrolling up to 1,000 pregnant and postpartum individuals who have or will receive COVID-19 vaccine in a study to assess vaccine safety, immune response and transfer of antibodies to their infants, the National Institutes of Health announced.