Maternal health efforts in Md. get $8.7M boost from HRSA

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Five health care organizations and universities in Maryland will share in $8.7 million to combat maternal mortality and improve maternal health, particularly in the state’s underserved communities, in awards announced Wednesday by the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).

The awards in Maryland will support the key goals of the Biden administration’s White House Blueprint for Addressing the Maternal Health Crisis.  This federal investment includes:

• Investment in maternal health research:  HRSA is investing $2.884 million to establish a new research network that will support minority serving institutions of higher learning to study the disparities in maternal health outcomes and identify effective methods and strategies for addressing them.
• Support for parents in communities with the highest rates of maternal deaths:  HRSA is investing $2.2 million through the Healthy Start Initiative to provide direct services to pregnant and postpartum mothers – services include care coordination, doula services and parent education classes – as well as to support community-wide efforts to address the non-medical factors that impact health outcomes, such as housing and nutrition.
• Increased access to integrated maternal health services:  HRSA is investing $1.8 million to improve pregnancy and postpartum care by expanding access to basic social and health services and fostering linkages among health care providers, social service organizations, state Medicaid programs and health departments.
• Expand access to maternal health care: HRSA is investing $1.5 million to establish maternal health task forces with a focus on innovation and implementing strategies to improve maternal health service delivery, such as sending mobile health units to areas with fewer maternal health providers and ensuring more hospitals have equipment and safety protocols in place to save lives during delivery.
• Build birthing facilities’ capacity to reduce maternal death and severe illness: HRSA is investing $199,277 to implement “patient safety bundles” in birthing facilities through the HRSA-funded Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health (AIM) program, which aims to improve the quality of care by addressing critical issues such as obstetric hemorrhage, severe hypertension and care for those with substance use disorder.
• Support for mothers and their families with Medicaid eligibility redeterminations: HRSA is investing $170,233 to help new mothers and their families navigate the Medicaid redetermination process associated with the end of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency.

The United States’ maternal mortality rate has been among the highest of any developed nation in recent decades, according to the HHS. Disparities in mortality are stark — Black women are more than three times as likely as white women to die from pregnancy-related causes. The awards will help to reversing these trends and making the U.S. the best country in the world to have a baby, Biden administration officials said.

The awards include:

*Global Communities Inc. is located in Maryland, but will be providing services in San Bernadino, California.