Initiatives
Collaborative Improvement and Innovation Network to Reduce Infant Mortality (Infant Mortality CoIIN)
A multiyear national movement engaging federal, state and local leaders, public and private agencies, professionals, and communities to employ quality improvement, innovation and collaborative learning to reduce infant mortality and improve birth outcomes. Infant Mortality CoIIN has identified six strategic areas to focus on:
- SIDS/SUID/Safe Sleep: Improve safe sleep practices
- Smoking Cessation: Reduce smoking before, during and/or after pregnancy
- Preconception/Interconception Health: Promote healthy birth spacing and reduce unintended pregnancy
- Social Determinants of Health: Incorporate evidence-based policies/programs and place-based strategies to improve social determinants of health and equity in birth outcomes
- Prevention of Preterm and Early Term Births: Increase appropriate use of 17 OH progesterone, a hormone given to prevent pre-term labor, and/or reduce early elective deliveries (i.e., before 40 weeks gestation)
- Risk-appropriate Perinatal Care (perinatal regionalization): Increase the delivery of higher-risk infants and mothers at appropriate level facilities
Keep scrolling, or use these quick links, to learn more.
Webinar | Issue Briefs | Resources | Related Content | Project Videos
Status: Complete
Phase one: 19 states in regions IV, V, and VI, September 2012 to August 2014 led by Abt Associates with NICHQ as subcontractor; Phase two: National Expansion, September 2013 to September 2017, led by NICHQ
- Who: Multifaceted stakeholders from many disciplines and agencies both within and across state boundaries. In 2012, IM CoIIN began with 13 states from the southern and southwestern U.S., with six other Midwestern states joining the effort in 2013. In 2014, IM CoIIN was expanded to the remaining 31 states and nine jurisdictions and refocused on national collaboration versus regional collaboration.
- Funder: The project was funded by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
- Our Role: In the first phase of the IM CoIIN, we provided project teams with technical assistance on how to incorporate quality improvement principles into their work. In the nationally focused phase, we led state teams and provided the data infrastructure, online community and continuing expert technical assistance needed to support their efforts. We worked with several national partners, including AMCHP, ASTHO and the March of Dimes.
Results Webinar: Big Wins and Next Steps in Addressing Infant Mortality
In a recent webinar, NICHQ shared the results and impact of the work to date, strategies that led to success, key resources and next steps to keep the momentum going.
View this webinar, as well as our full expert series here
Issue Briefs
The following issue briefs are a result of a shared commitment with our partners to spread learnings from the Infant Mortality CoIIN.
- Strategies to Increase Access to Long-Acting Reversible Contraception (LARC) in Medicaid
- Opportunities for States to Improve Women’s Health and Birth Outcomes through Medicaid Incentives for Effective Contraceptive Use and Postpartum Care
- Preventing Preterm Birth Through Progesterone: How Medicaid Can Help Increase Access
- Using Maternal and Child Health Quality Improvement Efforts to Advance State Health Agency Accreditation
- Medicaid Funding Opportunities in Support of Perinatal Regionalization Systems