( continued from page 21 ) Medicaid data ). Identifying pregnant and postpartum individuals in need of help by screening for depression , suicide , substance-use and intimate partner violence is the first step . Connecting those individuals to clinical and community services to address and treat identified needs is of the utmost importance .
The KY-MMRC is working with the Kentucky Perinatal Quality Collaborative ( KyPQC ) to improve maternal health through quality improvement activities . The KyPQC is working with birthing hospitals within Kentucky to screen mothers for substance-use and connect them to services . At the same time , they are working with the newborn nurseries in those hospital to document babies who have been exposed to substances in utero and have symptoms . Working together with front line health care providers can identify needs and help create a more holistic system of care . The KyPQC has also established a Maternal Mortality Task Force to study all the KY-MMRC comments from each maternal death review that indicate conditions that could have prevented these deaths and turn each evaluation into a plan of prevention .
Solving the problem of maternal mortality and health will require a multifaceted change . Supporting our front-line providers with training , tools and partners to assist Kentucky ’ s moms is imperative . There must be policy and practice changes to improve hospital and community care , more equitable access to health care regardless of the mom ’ s race and better resources for those struggling with substance-use and depression .
References :
1 https : dx . doi . org / 10.15620 / cdc : 113967
2
Eugene Declercq and Laurie Zephyrin , Maternal Mortality in the United States : A Primer ( Commonwealth Fund , Dec . 2020 )
3 www . cdc . gov / mmwr / preview / mmwrhtml / 00048923 . htm
4 nichd . nih . gov / health / topics / maternal-morbidity-mortality / conditioninfo / causes
5 www . chfs . ky . gov / agencies / dph / dmch / Documents / MMRAnnualReport . pdf
6 www . who . int / news-room / fact-sheets / detail / maternal-mortality
7 www . statista . com / statistics / 184688 / us-national-health-expenditure-since-1960 /
8 www . acog . org / advocacy / policy-priorities / maternal-mortality-prevention
9 www . cdc . gov / reproductivehealth / maternalinfanthealth / severematernalmorbidity . html #:~: text = Severe % 20maternal % 20morbidity % 20 % 28SMM % 29 % 20 includes % 20unexpected % 20outcomes % 20of , 50 % 2C000 % 20women % 20in % 20 the % 20United % 20States % 20in % 202014
10 https :// wonder . cdc . gov
11 www . acog . org / news / news-releases / 2020 / 06 / acog-statement-on-covid-19- and-pregnancy
12 www . acog . org / clinical-information / physician-faqs / covid-19-faqs-for-obgyns-obstetrics
13 www . cdc . gov / media / releases / 2022 / p0919-pregnancy-related-deaths . html
14
www . cdc . gov / reproductivehealth / maternal-mortality / erase-mm / data-mmrc . html
Dr . Theriot is a pediatrician and the Medical Director for the Kentucky Department for Medicaid Services in the Cabinet for Health and Family Services . She is also a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Louisville . ( non-member )
22 LOUISVILLE MEDICINE