Maternal and Child Health Resource Repository

Black, American Indian and Alaska Native women are two to three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women, and this disparity increases with age, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers reported today.

The latest Joint Commission R3 (Requirement, Rationale, Reference) Report describes changes to two maternal safety standards accredited hospitals must meet.

What do New York-Presbyterian, Henry Ford Health System of Detroit, and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles all have in common?  

While many care coordination strategies focus on the elderly, who have a higher rate of comorbidities, one of the most important benchmarks of health status is infant mortality. In Indiana, the infant mortality rate is the seventh highest in the country, with 7.6 deaths per thousand births versus a nationwide rate of 5.9.

In an op-ed for Fierce Healthcare, Robyn Begley, AHA chief nursing officer and CEO for its American Organization for Nursing Leadership, discusses how hospitals and health systems are redoubling our efforts to make sure women have safe pregnancies and positive health outcomes. For more on the AHA’s Better Health for Mothers and Babies initiative, visit https://www.aha.org/better-health-for-mothers-and-babies. 

On this AHA Advancing Health Podcast, Jay Bhatt, AHA senior vice president and chief medical officer, and obstetrician-gynecologist Sharmila Makhija, M.D., discuss the AHA Institute for Diversity and Health Equity’s goal of eliminating maternal health disparities, including lowering maternal mortality rates for black women.

Infants may be 4% to 147% more likely to be admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit if their mothers were exposed to high levels of air pollution the week before they were born, depending on the type of pollution.

The AHA recently participated in a meeting of an American Academy of Family Physicians task force that will recommend evidence-based strategies to improve maternal health and reduce disparities in maternal morbidity and mortality.

Women in rural areas face unique maternal health care challenges, including hospital closures or lack of obstetric services. In this AHA Stat Blog, Jay Bhatt, D.O., senior vice president and chief medical officer of the AHA, and Melissa Mannon, AHA associate director of policy development, discuss priorities to improve maternal health services identified at a recent Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services forum.

Community-based organizations and others can apply through July 15 for funding to address maternal health disparities and improve outcomes.

Leaders of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions today released the Lower Health Care Costs Act of 2019 – bipartisan discussion draft legislation focused on reducing health care costs. Among other areas, the bill would take steps to end surprise medical bills, reduce the prices of prescription drugs, improve transparency in health care, boost public health, and improve the exchange of health information technology.

U.S. birth rates declined for the fourth consecutive year with only 3.78 million babies born in 2018, the fewest in over three decades, according to a report released this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The House Ways and Means Committee today held a hearing examining the impact of racial disparities and social determinants of health on maternal mortality.

AHA statement before the Committee on Ways and Means of the U.S. House of Representatives on : Overcoming Racial Disparities and Social Determinants in the Maternal Mortality Crisis.

The Food and Drug Administration yesterday published draft guidance to promote clinical studies to increase drug safety information for pregnant and nursing women and their providers.

Now in its third year, the March for Moms is an annual march in Washington, D.C., to urge policymakers to dedicate more funding and pass legislation to help improve maternal health in the U.S.

In this Advancing Health podcast, Jay Bhatt, senior vice president and chief medical officer for the American Hospital Association speaks with Rear Admiral Wanda Barfield, the director of the division of reproductive health for the CDC.

An estimated 31 percent of pregnancy-related deaths occur during pregnancy, 36 percent during delivery or the week after, and 33 percent one week to one year after delivery.

Robyn Begley, DNP, R.N.

The AHA today voiced support for provisions in the Mothers and Offspring Mortality and Morbidity Awareness Act (H.R. 1897/S. 916) that would improve state maternal mortality data, provide funding to promote safety practices and cultural competency, and extend health coverage and services for low-income postpartum women.