Search Results: MCHLine

Annotation: This guide provides information for a pregnant woman’s family about opioid misuse and treatment during pregnancy. The guide explains what an opioid use disorder is and discusses the importance of comprehensive prenatal care and treatment for pregnant women with the disorder, delivery, newborn health, breastfeeding, social supports, and what to expect in the weeks and months after delivery.

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Keywords: Consumer education materials, Infant health, Narcotics, Perinatal addiction, Pregnant women, Substance abuse treatment

Annotation: This infographic presents data from the Kansas Perinatal Community Collaborative on their implementation of the March of Dimes' Becoming a Mom (BaM) prenatal education curriculum. It describes the evidence-based program's three-fold approach to perinatal care, education, and support, including its cognitive and behavioral compoments. The infographic compares demographic characteristics of mothers participating in the BaM program, shares self-reported outcomes and behaviors of program participants, and highlights key infant health metrics for BaM mothers compared to statewide data.

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Keywords: Educational materials, Infant health, Maternal health, Patient education, Perinatal care, Postpartum care, Prenatal care

Annotation: This perinatal mental health screening protocol and briefing guide is designed to provide a culturally responsive framework for screening Black birthing persons. The protocol aims to address the urgent need for improved screening and quality care for this population, which is at higher risk for perinatal depression and anxiety. Informed by focus groups with Black birthing people, Black birth workers, perinatal service providers, and a literature review, the guide outlines five key steps for conducting screenings: fostering an atmosphere of trust and safety, starting a conversation, providing choice and transparency, discussing results with patients, and making referrals with follow-through. The briefing includes considerations for providers before screening, such as assessing biases, serving with cultural humility, understanding community fears and stigma, and recognizing common phrases used to indicate anxiety or depression. The protocol also provides guidance on establishing an organizational screening process and building culturally responsive referral partnerships.

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Keywords: Blacks, Child birth, Culutral sensitivity, Mental health, Ohio, Perinatal care, Protocol, Quality improvement, Screening, State initiatives

Annotation: This web page from the Lifeline for Moms program at UMass Chan Medical School provides resources to help obstetric settings integrate perinatal mental health care into their everyday workflow. The main resource is an Overview Guide, available in two versions: a self-guided version and a remote support version that includes additional materials for virtual meetings with Lifeline for Moms consultants. The Guide includes assessment documents, tools for scheduling implementation and creating practice goals, workflow documents, screeners and scorers for depression, anxiety, PTSD, and self-harm, and resources for developing referral directories and patient handouts. The page also offers an Obstetric Care Clinician Packet with reference materials and patient handouts, as well as a 4-part online training module for obstetric care clinicians and staff. Individual files for each component of the Guide are available for download.

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Keywords: Mental health, Obstetrical care, Perinatal care, Resources for professionals, Service integration

Annotation: The Birth Equity Action Map is an interactive mapping tool that describes urgent actions needed by specific system actors (i.e., birth equity partners) to improve birth and racial equity, and it highlights where the system funders can use their leverage to accelerate birth equity. The tool is designed to accelerate the work of communities, coalitions, and funders in strategically assessing their efforts, identifying opportunities, and committing to specific actions to strengthen the birth equity and early childhood ecosystem.

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Keywords: Access to health care, Childbirth, Health care disparities, Health care systems, Health equity, Interactive media, Maps, Maternal health, Perinatal care

Annotation: This website describes the Advancing Maternal Health Through Quality Improvement and Professional Education Initiative and its efforts to improve postpartum systems of care related to cardiovascular health. It addresses management strategies for heart disease risk factors such as high blood pressure, preeclampsia, and gestational diabetes in birthing persons to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality. Available resources include scientific statements, professional guidelines, webinars, and a podcast series that explores community-led solutions and clinical-community linkages. The site also presents clinical recommendations developed by a multi-disciplinary writing group supported by Merck for Mothers.

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Keywords: Cardiovascular diseases, Health care systems, Maternal health, Perinatal care, Postpartum care, Quality improvement

Annotation: This white paper presents a framework for state Perinatal Quality Collaboratives to measure how effectively hospitals and other healthcare sites implement quality improvement initiatives. It details the application of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement Assessment Scale for Collaboratives, a five-point linear scale designed to track progress from initial planning to outstanding sustainable results. The document provides guidance on adapting the assessment scale template for specific projects and addresses implementation challenges related to data burden and hospital capacity. Appendices feature case studies and implementation results from state programs in Tennessee, Wisconsin, and Iowa, including examples of visual dashboards and narrative reporting tools

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Keywords: Health facilities, Hospitals, Measures, Perinatal care, Quality Improvement

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 updated report offers information about oral health for women during the perinatal period and discusses problems related to women's oral health and their ability to access oral health care during this period. A strategic framework for improving perinatal oral health, based on core public health activities, is presented, and a policy statement is included.

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Keywords: Access to health care, Infant health, Oral health, Perinatal care, Pregnant women, Prevention, Public policy , Treatment

Annotation: This website provides information about the Healthy Start program, administered by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB), that works to improve health outcomes before, during, and after pregnancy in high-risk communities. The program focuses on enhancing mothers' health, preventing infant death, and eliminating health disparities through comprehensive, personalized care. The website offers several key resources, including a downloadable Healthy Start Fact Sheet providing program overview, links to evaluation reports showing program effectiveness, information about the Healthy Start EPIC Center for training and technical assistance, and access to the CAREWare database system for data management. Visitors can also find a program locator tool to find local Healthy Start sites, details about grant awards from 2019-2024 (including specific community-based doula initiatives), and contact information for additional questions. The site highlights program accomplishments, showing that Healthy Start participants receive early prenatal care, well-woman visits, and depression/interpersonal violence screenings at higher rates than national averages. The website also explains the structure of the Community Consortium approach and describes the Alumni Peer Navigator initiative that employs former program participants to help current families access needed services.

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Keywords: Health care disparities, Health promotion, Healthy Start, Infant health services, Infant mortality, Maternal health services, Perinatal care, Prevention

Annotation: This report presents a roadmap of California's Birthing Care Pathway initiative launched by the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) to address maternal health disparities and improve outcomes for pregnant and postpartum Medi-Cal members. It describes the current state of maternal health in California, highlighting concerning trends in pregnancy-related mortality and severe maternal morbidity with significant racial disparities affecting Black, American Indian/Alaska Native, and Pacific Islander individuals. The document outlines DHCS' strategic approach to improve maternal health through policy solutions developed with input from diverse stakeholders, including Medi-Cal members. Key components include strengthening provider access, enhancing clinical care coordination, providing whole-person care, and modernizing maternity care payment systems. The report details recent Medi-Cal policy enhancements for perinatal care and describes California's participation in the federal Transforming Maternal Health Model to further strengthen delivery systems in selected Central Valley counties.

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Keywords: California, Health care disparities, Maternal health, Maternal morbidity, Maternal mortality, Model programs, Perinatal care, Policy development, Postpartum care, Quality improvement, State initiatives, Trends

Annotation: This report presents findings on the state of women's and family health benefits in the workplace based on two surveys conducted in October-November 2024. It addresses challenges facing employees and employers, including rising healthcare costs, burnout among working parents, and increased anxiety around reproductive health. The report highlights how companies are responding through expanded benefits, with 69% planning to increase family health benefits vendors in the coming years. It discusses the benefits of offering comprehensive women's and family health support, including improved employee retention and reduced healthcare costs. The report includes specific statistics on employer and employee priorities, testimonials from benefits leaders, and guidance for designing effective family benefits programs. Sections cover topics such as fertility support, parenting challenges, men's reproductive health, and the role of digital health solutions in improving outcomes.

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Keywords: Employer health costs, Family support services, Health Benefits Plans, Employee, Insurance benefits, Maternal health, Perinatal care, Reproductive health services, Statistics, Surveys, Trends, Women's health, Workplace health promotion

Annotation: This issue brief analyzes state Medicaid coverage of evidence-based perinatal services that can improve maternal and infant health outcomes, particularly during the postpartum period. The document examines coverage across four categories of services including alternative models of care delivery, whole-person wraparound care, mental and behavioral health support, and lactation support beyond the hospital. It finds wide variation in Medicaid coverage of these evidence-based perinatal services across states, with only 11 states requiring and reimbursing maternal depression screening during well-child visits and significant differences between Medicaid expansion and non-expansion states. The analysis emphasizes that despite growing recognition of postpartum care importance, state variation in Medicaid coverage likely influences maternal health outcomes and worsens place-based disparities.

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Keywords: Evidence based medicine, Health policy, Medicaid, Perinatal care, Postartum care, Reimbursement, State MCH programs, Statistics

Annotation: This interactive map displays resources and services available to pregnant and postpartum women and their families in Maryland. Users can click on more than two dozen categories, including CenteringPregnancy sites, birthing hospitals, family planning clinics, home visiting programs, and care coordination and navigation services, to learn where in the state they can locate assistance. Resources listed on the map have been verified and confirmed to be offering the services listed and, where applicable, with licensed and credentialed human resources at the time of the last update (posted on the site). The map was developed at the recommendation of the Maryland Maternal Health Innovation Task Force as part of the Maryland Maternal Health Innovation program (MDMOM) funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration.

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Keywords: Access to care, Health services, Maps, Maryland, Maternal health, Perinatal care, Postpartum care, Prenatal care, Resource materials, State initiatives

Annotation: This webpage discusses how telehealth can help address barriers to postpartum care, such as the cost and time associated with travel to in-person appointments, inability to drive after childbirth, and lack of childcare. It outlines potential postpartum telehealth services, including general health check-ins, lactation support, screening and treatment for postpartum depression, therapy appointments, and referrals to specialists. The page also spotlights Centerstone, a HRSA-funded program in Tennessee that has successfully used telehealth to reduce infant mortality and racial disparities in prenatal care by increasing access to visits and education programs.

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Keywords: Barriers, Maternal health, Perinatal care, Postpartum care, Telehealth, Tennessee, state programs

Annotation: This brief provides information about Medicaid-covered dental visits and dental-related emergency department visit rates during the perinatal period. The information is based on 2018–2019 Medicaid and State Children’s Health Insurance Program encounter data and dental claims from over 200,000 women during the postpartum period from 45 states and the District of Columbia. It presents variations in receipt of oral health care during the perinatal period according to enrollee age, state of residence, extent of Medicaid coverage of dental services, and state Medicaid expansion status.

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Keywords: Emergency room, Health care utilization, Low income groups, Medicaid, Oral health, Perinatal health, Perinatal services, Postpartum care, Pregnant women

Annotation: This online resource functions as both an education and awareness campaign and an umbrella of coordinated supports and services for Vermonters experiencing Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders (PMADs). The resource emphasizes that PMADs are the leading complication of childbirth, affecting about 1 in 4 pregnant or postpartum Vermonters, and notes that these disorders are common and treatable. For immediate support, the site provides contacts for the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline and the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline (1-833-TLC-MAMA). It also connects expecting and new families to mental health clinicians and community services via Help Me Grow Vermont and lists additional support from Postpartum Support International (PSI) and Designated Mental Health Agencies. The resource includes translated PMADs information sheets and Help Me Grow cards available in multiple languages, such as Arabic, Chinese, French, and Spanish

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Keywords: Anxiety, Campaigns, Depression, Mental health, Mood disorders, Patient education, Perinatal care, Postpartum care, Vermont

Annotation: Panelists discuss how postpartum depression differs from the normative “baby blues” experience, with postpartum depression being more persistent, severe, and functionally impairing compared with the temporary emotional fluctuations of baby blues that resolve within two weeks.

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Keywords: Mental health, Perinatal care, Postpartum depression, Resources for professionals

Annotation: These perinatal clinical care guidelines for the general population include guidelines for the first prenatal visit (6–12 weeks) and each subsequent prenatal visit (13–42 weeks). Topics include initial and interval history; psychosocial assessment; physical examinations; immunizations; laboratory evaluation and additional testing; oral health; genetic counseling, screening, and testing; general counseling, education, and discussion; and the postpartum visit.

• 2024 Guidelines
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Keywords: Guidelines, Perinatal health, Perinatal services, Postpartum care, Pregnant women, Prenatal care, Preventive health services

Annotation: This website explains how Perinatal Quality Collaboratives (PQCs) work to improve the quality of healthcare for mothers and babies. PCQs are networks of perinatal health care providers that include hospitals, clinicians, and public health professionals working to improve pregnancy outcomes through quality improvement initiatives and use of best available evidence-based strategies. The site includes a video introduction to PQCs; a webinar series; a guide to help states developed PQCs, success stories, journal articles, and links to additional resources.

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Keywords: Collaboration, Infant health, Maternal health, Model programs, Perinatal care, Perinatal services, Quality assurance, Regional programs, State initiatives