Mapping State Medicaid Efforts to Improve Birth Outcomes

We are passionate at NICHQ about driving improvements in children’s health. While we pride ourselves on being a catalyst for change, we know that we cannot change the complex systems that affect children’s health outcomes alone. It takes many great partners with a shared vision, and providing tools for the various health systems components to work together more effectively. 

That is just what the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP), a partner on the NICHQ-led Collaborative Improvement and Innovation Network to Reduce Infant Mortality (Infant Mortality CoIIN), set out to do. NASHP conducted a 50 state scan to identify and confirm those state Medicaid agencies tracking and reporting key perinatal quality measures as well as implementing performance improvement projects, and incentives to improve birth outcomes. While first and foremost these are great tools to support states’ efforts to improve perinatal outcomes, there is also a potential opportunity for state Medicaid and Title V programs to collaborate and share data related to services and health outcome goals of mutual interest. 

“Medicaid is an integral partner in supporting the well-being of all women and babies,” says NICHQ Project Director Zhandra Levesque, MPH. “Only through coordinated efforts like these will we be able to continue to support states in putting the resources and tools in place to improve outcomes for mothers and babies.”

Visit the NASHP website to learn more about the effort and see the new chart and series of maps.