Advancing Maternal & Infant Health

Maternal health is a national priority. While rates of maternal mortality and morbidity have increased in the U.S in recent years, evidence shows that the majority of pregnancy related deaths and harm are preventable with standardized reliable data.

Currently, the nation’s maternal health surveillance system relies on voluntary, self-reported data from states, which has resulted in inconsistent and delayed reporting of outcomes and health trends. In addition, the U.S. process does not routinely track data that connects outcomes to known causes of maternal harm and death.

Premier Inc. (PINC) https://www.premierinc.com announced a new two year $8 million partnership with HHS’s Office of Women’s Health (OWH) https://womenshealth.gov. The partnership is going to use Premier’s data and performance improvement methodology to scale advancements in care for mothers and infants across the nation.

Premier’s data driven collaborative of more than 200 hospitals will use HHS-defined criteria to engage a nationally representative sample of U.S birthing hospitals. These hospitals serve geographic locations with high mortality rates and represent racially and ethnically diverse patient populations.

Premier and HHS are going to leverage Premier’s data representing 45% of U.S hospital discharges, to analyze the risk factors affecting rising maternal age, racial and ethnic disparities, socioeconomic factors, and comorbidities.

In addition, research data is critical to track the impact of COVID-19 on maternal and infant health. The goal is to collect clinical and survey data from pregnant women and babies during and following the pandemic.

To meet the research need, several registries are open to pregnant women and newborns based in the U.S. to include:

  • Pregnancy Coronavirus Outcomes Registry (PRIORITY) at the University of California San Francisco and UC at LA. This registry helps patients and healthcare providers better understand how COVID-19 affects pregnant women and newborns
  • MothertoBaby Registry, at UC San Diego/Organization of Teratology Information Specialists (OTIS), examines the short and long term effect of COVID-19 on pregnancy and while breastfeeding
  • COVID-19 Pregnancy and Postpartum Experiences (COPE) Study at the University of Illinois, Chicago studies how isolation, stress, and changes in healthcare related to COVID-19 affect pregnancy and the postpartum period.
  • The National Registry at the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Section on Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine (SONPM) in collaboration with the Vermont-Oxford Network (VON) and MedNAX, an organization of private neonatologists
  • Pregnant During COVID-19 Survey Study at the Women’s Hospital of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, gathers data on how COVID-19 is affecting pregnant women’s health, feelings, behaviors, and home/work situations.

 

In another effort to address maternal and infant health needs, NYC Health + Hospitals have announced the expansion of their OB simulation labs throughout the health system by enabling 6 NYC Health + Hospitals acute care facilities to be outfitted with their own OB simulation lab to help replicate life threatening health conditions such as OB embolisms, massive hemorrhages, and eclampsia

The lab using mannequins, along with OB physicians, anesthesiologists, nurse practitioners, midwives, and physician assistants from each of the 11 hospitals in the system, participate in simulations that help to identify a potentially life-threatening condition during labor and childbirth.

Go to https://www.marchofdimes.org for more information on COVID-10 Maternal and Infant Health Research Registries not only in the U.S but also for information on registries outside the U.S.