Lead Agency/Program Director: AZ Dept. of Health Services, Bureau of Women’s and Children’s Health (BCWH) / Patricia Tarango, MSW
Partners: Arizona Perinatal Trust, March of Dimes, AZ Governor’s Office, American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG), AZ Public Health Association, AZ Family Health Partnership, Navajo Nation Dept of Health, Inter-tribal Council, Indian Health Service, and other tribal partners. Arizona Healthcare Cost Containment System (Medicaid), AZ Hospital/Health Care System, AZ Alliance of Community Health Centers, AZ First Things First, and South Phoenix Healthy Start.
Related Initiatives & Collaboratives: AZ Title V MCH Program; AZ Maternal Health Task Force; AZ Primary Care Office for workforce development; and 3 state home visiting programs. AZ’s Maternal Mortality Review Committee received Governor’s Breakthrough Project status as well as a CDC MMRC grant and a state-funded Rural Prenatal Telemedicine Program.
MHLIC Coach: Kimberly Harper, MSN, RN, MHA
Outcome Measures: Access to care, health insurance coverage, prenatal care, 1st trimester enrollment, post-partum visits, postpartum depression (PPD), severe maternal morbidity (SMM) and maternal mortality ratio (MMR) stratified by race, ethnicity and geography, changes in the health care system, workforce capacity increases/improvements, actionable recommendations from maternal mortality review committee (MMRC).
Goals:
Establish a state-focused Maternal Health Task Force (MHTF) to create and implement a strategic plan that incorporates activities outlined in the state’s most recent State Title V Needs Assessment
- Augment efforts of existing AZ MHTF to translate data to action and develop strategic plan aligned with Title V NA
- Develop separate Tribal Maternal Health Task Force to develop a culturally relevant tribal strategic plan and coordinate with larger MHTF
- Define levels of care for AZ birthing hospitals using the CDC Levels of Care Assessment Tool (LOCaTe)
Improve the collection, analysis, and application of state-level data on maternal mortality and SMM
- Assist facilities to report maternal deaths, streamline data collection/review
- Annual report
- Improve collection, interpretation and analysis of tribal data
Promote and execute innovation in maternal health service delivery, such as improving access to maternal care services, identifying and addressing workforce needs, and/or supporting postpartum and interconception care services, among others
- Increase awareness among pregnant and postpartum (PP) women regarding warning signs via patient education program and social media campaign
- Increase access to care via Medicaid enhancements, e.g., initiating presumptive eligibility, increasing coverage to 1-yr PP and billing mechanism for community health workers
- Identify appropriate AIM Safety Bundles, aligned with MM and SMM data, for implementation; train and incentivize providers (via TA contracts)
- Expand reach of the South Phoenix Healthy Start program to reach women in maternal health care deserts
- Expand RPTP by funding rural sites
- Identify and fund hospital emergency equipment needs