Lead Agency/Program Director: Iowa Department of Public Health, Division of Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention, Bureau of Family Health / Stephen Hunter, MD, PhD and Sylvia Navin
Partnering Organizations: University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics; University of Iowa (UI); Iowa Perinatal Health Collaborative; UI Workforce Development Program; Iowa Health Collaborative; Iowa Medical Society; Iowa Section of ACOG and American College of Nurse Midwives (ACNM). Partners include the Biomedical Informatics group at UI; Blank Children’s Hospital – UnityPoint Health; Iowa State and US Senators; End Preeclampsia; UI College of Nursing; UI Health Care; Governor of Iowa; and the Iowa Healthcare Collaborative.
Related Initiatives & Collaboratives: Iowa Medical Society; Iowa Medicaid Enterprise; Iowa Hospital Association; Association of Women’s Health Obstetrical and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN); CDC; Barriers to Prenatal Care Survey; Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System; Title V; Iowa Obstetric (OB) Task Force; and the Iowa Statewide Perinatal Care Program.
MHLIC Coach: Katherine Bryant, MA, MSPH
Outcome Measures: Participant engagement with task force; Maternal health outcomes from Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) Title V national performance measures; Increase in prenatal providers; Credential OB providers in obstetric emergencies; Availability of safety bundles and telehealth consults 24/7; Maternal mortality and SMM
Goals:
Establish a state-focused Maternal Health Task Force to create and implement a strategic plan that incorporates activities outlined in the state’s most recent State Title V Needs Assessment
- Use CDC’s Developing and Sustaining Perinatal Quality Collaboratives as model for maternal health task force, to be called the Iowa Maternal Quality Care Collaborative (IMQCC)
- Hold statewide Maternity Care Summit to address intrapartum best practices, inter-pregnancy health challenges and workforce and systems challenges
- Develop strategic plan to improve maternal health outcomes, address gaps, and incorporate activities in the Title V needs assessment
- Update strategic plan with actionable recommendations based on state-level maternal health data
- Implement strategic plan through close collaboration of stakeholders
Improve the collection, analysis, and application of state-level data on maternal mortality and SMM, and maternal health outcomes
- Enhance current efforts for evaluating maternal ortality, severe maternal morbidity, and maternal health trends in Iowa
- Create statewide maternal health and delivery summary (MHDS)and Obstetrics Data Integration Architecture for all hospitals caring for pregnant women
- Share results of data analysis to IMQCC and all obstetrical practices in IA regularly
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
- IMQCC will work with Governor’s health policy staff to provide education on labor and delivery unit needs, provider coverage, reimbursements, and provider skills
- Expand postgraduate course to include annual obstetric emergency simulations
- Offer training and certification to obstetrical providers in obstetrical emergency management
- Assign level of care for each obstetric care hospital
- Expand MHM telehealth network to include Level II hospitals
- Enhance workforce development with training of MFM subspecialists, rural residency OB/GYN training track, one year OB fellowship for family practice providers, beginning a CNM training program
- Proposing telehealth network linking Level I and Level II hospitals to consultation and maternal transport services
- Provide fellowships, certificates, and training to family practice physicians that include cesarean section training
- Enhance the Statewide Perinatal Care Program’s reach and function
- Finalize safety bundles for each hospital level of care
- Create obstetric simulation van to travel to hospitals to provide training
- Consider obstetrical hospitalist model for some institutions
- Expand mental health services with the Department of Psychiatry
- Partner with family medicine providers to encourage family planning screening and to increase awareness of chronic conditions effect on pregnancy and the importance of optimal pregnancy planning mental health disorders, and substance abuse during pregnancy
- Loan repayment for OB/GYNs who stay in IA