Partnering with Care Providers to Improve Maternal Health
Medicaid programs, care providers, and managed care plans are actively strategizing how to improve maternal health. Supporting obstetric care providers by sharing more detailed metrics and implementing value-based care (VBC) models are two mechanisms to transform maternal care.
Many VBC programs exist to improve quality in the delivery of maternal care, however, stakeholders and experts have noted challenges such as lack of data available to care providers or putting too much financial risk on care providers. Managed care plans can reduce or mitigate many VBC challenges in maternal care through offering additional resources to obstetric care providers and implementing evidence-based quality incentive programs.
This analysis demonstrates that when obstetric providers access specialized health plan resources and participate in quality improvement initiatives through VBC, there are favorable impacts across prenatal care and delivery, infant outcomes, access to care, and costs.
Related Public Policy Research
Doulas serve as an effective strategy to address disparities in maternal health. This evaluation provides evidence that women with doula care experience reduced risk of maternal morbidity, compared to women without doula care.
Timely enrollment in Medicaid managed care is crucial for individuals who are pregnant, allowing them to access prenatal care earlier in their pregnancy. Timely enrollment can also lead to improved birth outcomes and lower infant birth costs.
Medicaid is a critical source of insurance coverage for pregnant women. However, there are still gaps in coverage, due to delays in when pregnant women access Medicaid managed care benefits and how long after delivery they retain coverage.