Search Results: MCHLine

Annotation: This online tool presents an overview of the "100 Weeks Project" by United States of Care, an initiative dedicated to addressing maternal health, particularly postpartum care, with a goal of ensuring women have comprehensive benefits for a full year after pregnancy by 2030. It maps the entire maternal journey—preconception, pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum—focusing on the disproportionate challenges faced by Black women, who are significantly more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes. The resource highlights pain points within the healthcare system, such as fragmented coverage, racial bias, and a lack of support for mental health and breastfeeding, alongside "bright spots" like community organizations and culturally-concordant care. State-level data illustrates disparities in access to perinatal health workers, postpartum depression screening rates, and insurance coverage for essential services like doula and lactation consultation. Ultimately, the project uses firsthand narratives and clinical data to advocate for systemic change and improved support throughout the critical 100-week period.

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Keywords: Access to care, Barriers, Blacks, Healthcare disparities, Maternal health, Preconception care, Pregnancy, Prenatal care: Postpartum care

Annotation: This project attempted to improve the health status of children in families in which one or both parents have mental retardation by reducing the risks associated with lack of immunization, poor nutrition, undiagnosed medical or developmental problems, injuries, and inadequate early stimulation. Efforts included both direct services (such as immunization, screening, and home care programs) and a consultation and technical assistance program aimed at improving the accessibility of the service delivery system for these children. [Funded by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau]

Keywords: Access to Health Care, Barriers to Health Care, Health Education, High risk children, High risk groups: Families, Mental Retardation, Parents, Parents with disabilities, Preventive Health Care, Primary Care

Annotation: This resource provides a geographic representation of child health in the United States. Contents include national and state-specific data on pediatric health care delivery at the Primary Care Service Area level. A range of maps is available including the number of children under age 18 per pediatrician, the number of children in linguistically-isolated households, median household income, the number of pediatric residents and fellows, and estimated vaccine coverage rates. An interactive mapping tool is available to members of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

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Keywords: Access to health care, Children, Data sources, Geographic regions, Health care disparities, Immunization, Integrated information systems, Interactive media, Language barriers, Low income groups, Patient care planning, Pediatricians, Statewide planning, Work force

Annotation: This report provides a description of perinatal oral health, including its significance and background, barriers to accessing oral health care for this population, and a strategic framework for improving perinatal oral health. It also includes guidelines and recommendations, research evidence, and state practice examples. [Funded by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau]

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Keywords: Access to health care, Barriers, Infant health, Initiatives, Oral health, Perinatal health, Pregnant women

Annotation: This article from Grantmakers In Health (GIH) describes a collaborative effort by funders to address gaps in postpartum care following the extension of Medicaid coverage from 60 days to 12 months after birth. The piece discusses how a workgroup of funders—including Pritzker Children's Initiative, Merck for Mothers, and Community Health Acceleration Partnership—formed in 2023 to identify opportunities for improving postpartum care systems. The article includes a visual diagram that illustrates the multi-layered challenges in postpartum care on three levels: individual, community, and system. This concentric circle diagram shows how issues such as standards of care, access to quality care, care fragmentation, and policy misalignment (at the system level) interact with community-level challenges like administrative burden and workforce shortages, as well as individual-level factors including awareness of needs, social and economic barriers, and fear of medical debt. Through stakeholder interviews, the workgroup discovered significant fragmentation of services and the absence of comprehensive care standards beyond the traditional six-week postpartum period. In response, the funders issued a request for proposals aimed at creating a centralized hub to catalog and connect postpartum care initiatives, with the goal of developing comprehensive standards and addressing what they term the "postpartum cliff."

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Keywords: Access to healthcare, Barriers, Collaboration, Funding, Health care reform, Library collection development, Medicaid, Policy, Postpartum care, Requests for proposals, Service delivery systems, Standards

Annotation: This report provides information about a series of community listening sessions that Community Catalyst held with community members in three states. The purpose of the sessions was to gain a better understanding of community members' perspectives related to access to and experiences with oral health care. The report includes an overview of the methodology of these listening sessions, descriptions of key themes that arose, and recommendations for policy solutions to address the barriers community members identified.

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Keywords: Access to health care, Barriers, Community health, Oral health, Public policy

Annotation: This guide presents an overview of inequities in access to health care and insurance coverage in the U.S. and highlights policy and accountability levers that advocates and other change-makers can use to advance equity. Among the topics addressed are providers and service delivery, financing, barriers to obtaining health insurance, barriers to accessing health care, disparities in coverage, accountability and oversight, and policies and actions that could lesson barriers. Links to additional sources of information are included.

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Keywords: Access to care, Barriers, Health care disparities, Health equity, Health insurance, Initiatives, Policy, Uninsured persons

Annotation: This guide presents an overview of the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), including system inequities, and highlights policy and accountability levers that advocates and other change-makers can use to advance equity. Among the topics addressed are financing, providers and service delivery, barriers to accessing and maintaining CHIP coverage, barriers to accessing health care services in CHIP, accountability and oversight, and policies and actions that could lesson barriers. Links to additional sources of information are included.

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Keywords: Access to care, Barriers, Children's Health Insurance Program, Health care disparities, Health equity, Initiatives, Policy

Annotation: This brochure provides information for consumers about dental visits. Topics include what do do after a dental visit, advocating for oneself during a visit, caring for oneself before and after a visit, how to address barriers to visiting the dentist, determining goals for a dental visit, how to prepare for a visit, and other ways to access oral health care. A companion guide for oral health professionals is also available.

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Keywords: Access to health care, Advocacy, Consumer education materials, Financial barriers, Oral health

Annotation: In this podcast episode, host Christie Allen sits down with Dr. Andrea Greiner, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist at the University of Iowa, to discuss the unique challenges of rural maternity care. Dr. Greiner shares her experiences working at a perinatal regional center, offering insight into how larger facilities can support rural hospitals and providers. Together, they explore the importance of individualized care, the complexities of coordinating care across diverse healthcare settings, and the logistical hurdles rural patients face. The episode is part of the AIM for Safer Birth series of podcasts that dive deeper into the rising severe maternal morbidity and maternal mortality rates in the United States through a data-driven, quality improvement lens.

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Keywords: Access to health care, Barriers, Coordination, History, Maternal health, Perinatal health, Regional factors, Regional medical centers, Rural health, Safety

Annotation: This thesis presents a research study examining birthing people's experiences with the health care system during prenatal, intrapartum, and postpartum periods. The study used patient journey mapping, surveys, and interviews to capture experiences at multiple time points. Participants included six prenatal and four postpartum patients, with a focus on Black birthing people. Key findings revealed challenges with insurance access, getting questions answered between appointments, and a lack of racial concordance with health care workers. Participants also reported feeling unprepared for unexpected events, accepting care that did not align with their needs, and inconsistent mental health and intimate partner violence screenings. The thesis discusses implications for improving maternal care, such as offering low-cost services, implementing telehealth, ensuring universal screenings, and increasing workforce diversity.

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Keywords: Access to care, Barriers, Blacks, Childbirth, Health care systems, Interviews, Perinatal care, Postpartum care, Pregnant women, Prenatal care, Surveys, Toronto Canada

Annotation: [This issue brief explains how expanding the role of midwives in the U.S. health care system could reduce perinatal health disparities and help address provider workforce shortages. It provides an overview of the midwifery model of care and describes how the integration of midwifery as a standard feature of maternity care varies dramatically across states. It also examines racial/ethnic disparities in midwifery access and use and examines barriers, including inequitable Medicaid reimbursement rates that limit broad access to midwifery care.

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Keywords: Access to health, Barriers, Midwives, Perinatal care, Trends, Work force

Annotation: This brief analyzes health care coverage and eligibility of noncitizens (lawfully present and undocumented immigrants, including pregnant women and children) compared with the entire population of the United States. It compares uninsurance rates based on demographics such as age, race and ethnicity, gender, education, and employment status and also looks at the eligibility of uninsured noncitizens ffor Marketplace premium tax credits, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in both Medicaid expansion and nonexpansion states.

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Keywords: Access to health care , Barriers, Health insurance, Immigrants, Migrants, Undocumented immigrants, uninsured persons

Annotation: This issue brief provides analysis of racial and ethnic disparities across selected measures of maternal and infant health, discusses the factors that drive these disparities, and provides an overview of recent efforts to address them. Statistics from federal data sets are included.

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Keywords: Barriers, Access to health care, Alaska natives, Blacks, Data, Ethnic factors, Health equity, Native Americans, Racial factors, Statistical analysis

Annotation: This online resource presents strategies to help connect families to children's mental health care; addresses gaps in the mental health workforce; and investigates how funding issues affect mental health care. It also addresses social determinants of health and how they affect mental health care; offers guidance on identifying children who need more support; and provides tools to help support healthy child development and the well-being of families.

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Keywords: Access to health care, Barriers, Child mental health, Health equity, Policy, Services for families

Annotation: This brief highlights goal 1 of the White House blueprint for addressing the maternal health crisis, which is to increase access to and coverage of comprehensive high-quality maternal health services, including behavioral health services. The brief outlines the need to strengthen risk-appropriate care in rural and urban areas; improve quality of care provided to pregnant and postpartum women with or at risk for hypertensive disorders of pregnancy; expand capacity to screen, assess, treat, and refer for maternal depression and related behavioral disorders; and Integrate behavioral health supports in community settings. Evidence-informed strategies for improvement, criteria for states to consider when developing strategies, and additional resources are included. Statistics on the percentage of women ages 15-49 with health insurance (by source of coverage); percent of Medicaid coverage by race/ethnicity; and births covered by Medicaid are also provided.

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Keywords: Access to care, Barriers, Health insurance, Initiatives, Maternal health, Medicaid, Mental health services, Perinatal care, Service integration

Annotation: This action brief describes the need to expand and diversify the perinatal workforce to meet the nation's health care needs. Compounding the limited access to maternal health care professionals, the brief highlights the lack of racial and ethnic diversity in the workforce and recommends increasing the number of nurses, health aids, midwives, doulas, lactation consultants, and community health workers to help bridge the gap. Statistics on maternity care desserts and employment of obstetricians and gynecologists by state are included The brief also describes the numerous factors that influence the lack of maternal health care practitioners in the U.S. and includes a list of innovative projects and programs aimed at addressing the issue.

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Keywords: Access to care, Barriers, Healtah equity, Initiatives, Maternal health, Perinatal care, Statistics, Work force

Annotation: This issue brief provides an overview of the structural and systemic factors contributing to the maternal health crisis in the United States. It outlines the White House Blueprint's five major goals and presents data showing significant racial, ethnic, geographic, and socioeconomic disparities in maternal health outcomes. The document examines key challenges including implicit bias, barriers for people with disabilities, limited healthcare access in rural areas, provider shortages, and socioeconomic factors. It also introduces the Restoring Our Own Through Transformation (ROOTT) Framework for addressing maternal health inequities and details evidence-based resources and strategies for implementing solutions at state and local levels.

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Keywords: Access to care, Barriers, Health care disparities, Health equity, Implicit bias, Maternal health, Population surveillance, Racial factors, Sociocultural factors

Annotation: This report examines racial and ethnic inequities in children's access to developmental services through California's Department of Developmental Services (DDS). It quantifies and evaluates inequities in service access and expenditures and examines the effectiveness of the set of measures developed by DDS to monitor and prevent inequities related to race, culture, and primary language spoken. A summary of findings is provided along with recommendations for legislative improvements that could help eliminate disparities to services for children with developmental disabilities in the state of California.

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Keywords: Access to health care, Barriers, California, Children with developmental disabilities, Cultural factors, Ethnic factors, Racial factors, State legislation

Annotation: This research brief describes state options and actions that can be taken to extend Medicaid-related pregnancy coverage beyond 60 days postpartum. Included are examples of state legislation and federally-approved waiver requests.

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Keywords: , Access to health care, Barriers, Expanded eligibility, Medicaid, Model legislation, Postpartum care, State legislation