Maternal and Child Health Library

This and past issues of the MCH Alert are available at http://www.mchlibrary.info/alert/archives.html

July 16, 2010

Special Notice: In recognition of the history of its programs, the Maternal and Child Health Bureau is planning a special Federal-State Maternal and Child Health Partnership Meeting to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of Title V of the Social Security Act. The meeting will be held on October 20, 2010, in Washington, DC. Local and state events to promote broad engagement of MCH leaders and enthusiasts, to celebrate the achievements of this program, and to determine the program’s future directions are encouraged. Ideas for planning local celebrations, a poster, and a Web widget (an application that may be added to Web pages, blogs, and community profiles) are available at http://www.hrsa.gov/ourstories/mchb75th/index.html

In recognition of this anniversary, MCH Alert will periodically feature resources from the Maternal and Child Health Library's Historical Collection. This week's featured resource is Infant Care (1935 edition). This booklet for parents was first published by the Children's Bureau in 1914 and was updated numerous times through its final edition in 1989. The 1935 edition includes information on registering an infant’s birth and addresses the following topics: the new baby; development of the baby; keeping the baby well; the home; clothes; baths; care of special organs; teeth; sleep; outdoor life; exercise; play; habits, training, and discipline; feeding; the small, delicate, or premature baby; the sick baby; and taking the baby to the country. The booklet is available at http://www.mchlibrary.info/history/chbu/3121-1935.PDF

Other Children's Bureau parent brochures and booklets from the MCH Library's historical collection are available at http://www.mchlibrary.info/history/chbu/parents.html

1. BRIEF EXPLORES OPPORTUNITIES FOR HEALTH PLANS TO SUPPORT PERINATAL ORAL HEALTH CARE

Improving Access to Perinatal Oral Health Care: Strategies and Considerations for Health Plans explores how oral health practices and use of oral health care among pregnant women may affect a woman's overall health, her birth outcome, and the oral health of her children. The issue brief was published by the Children's Dental Health Project and the National Institute of Healthcare Management Foundation with support from the Health Resources and Services Administration's Maternal and Child Health Bureau. The authors review guidelines and statements developed by professional organizations and states that instruct health professionals on providing oral health care to pregnant women to prevent dental caries and periodontal disease, deliver appropriate treatment, and mitigate the costs of untreated disease. They also explain how client, physician, work force, and financial barriers limit use of perinatal oral health care and conclude with opportunities for health plans to play a role in removing these barriers to ensure that all pregnant women have access to needed care. The brief is available at http://www.nihcm.org/pdf/NIHCM-OralHealth-Final.pdf

• Of the 11,787 home births with planning status recorded in the 19 states studies, 9,810 (83.2 percent) were identified as planned home births.
• The percentage of all births that occurred at home that were planned varied from 54.2 percent to 98.1 percent across states.
• Among mothers with planned home births, 90 percent were non-Hispanic white. Less than half of mothers having hospital (49.7 percent) or unplanned home births (44.5 percent) were non-Hispanic white.
• Mothers having planned home births were more likely to be older than 30 (52 percent), married (91.7 percent), born in the United States (91.4 percent), nonsmokers (97.8 percent) and to have at least some college education (54.9 percent) and a gestation of 37 or more weeks (96.9 percent) than mothers having unplanned home births or hospital births.
• Almost 20 percent of unplanned home births were to mothers who smoked, and most (54 percent) were to mothers who were unmarried.
• Births attended by "other" attendants were more than twice as likely for unplanned compared with planned births. "Other" attendants may include any other person (besides a physician or certified professional midwife) who delivered the neonate.
• Premature births accounted for 25.6 percent of unplanned home births, compared with 3.1 percent of planned home births.

• The mean number of days between Medicaid application and authorization for coverage rose by 25 percent in the 9 months following citizenship documentation requirements, from 18 days to 22.6 days.
• In the 9 months following DRA implementation, the percentage of applicants waiting more than 7 days for coverage authorization increased significantly, from 67.8 to 76.0 percent; the proportion of applicants waiting over 30 days for authorization rose from 18.9 to 27.8 percent. There was also a significant increase in the proportion of women who waited longer than 45 days.
• The significant increase in the proportion of applicants that waited over 30 days or beyond the standard 45-day period increased most sharply in the months immediately following DRA implementation and remained consistently higher than proportions observed before September 2006.