Maternal Health Innovation Program
The Maternal Health Innovation Program aims to improve maternal health outcomes by reducing the risk of severe maternal morbidity and maternal mortality.
Maternal Health Innovation
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment received a grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) that aims to reduce maternal mortality, severe maternal morbidity, and maternal health disparities through:
- quality services,
- a skilled workforce,
- enhanced data quality and capacity, and
- innovative programming.
The MHI Program will work closely with the Kansas Perinatal Quality Collaborative and the Kansas Maternal Mortality Review Committee (MMRC) as well as with the State Maternal Health Task Force (MHTF) to ensure that work is aligning across the state and representing the needs of women and their families throughout the state.
Mission
The mission of the Kansas Maternal Health Innovation program is to improve maternal health outcomes by using innovative strategies and centering community voices to reduce the risk of adverse health outcomes to women and families in Kansas.
Vision
Our vision is that Kansas will be a state where women and families can thrive.
For additional information about the MHI Program, please contact:
Kayla Nicole Stangis, MPH, CHES
Maternal Health Innovation Coordinator
Kansas Department of Health and Environment
Key Drivers
- Multidisciplinary, collaborative approaches to care
- Evidence-based, data-driven innovation that are based on MMRC recommendations
- Community voices being included and at the center of innovations
- Involvement and active participation from task force members
Kansas Maternal Health Task Force (MHTF)
The MHTF is comprised of public health professionals, care providers, community partners, and people with lived experience that represent our communities in the state of Kansas. The MHTF will work collaboratively to develop a strategic plan (for which the final version is due in September 2025) for improving maternal health and addressing identified health disparities.
Maternal Health Strategic Plan (MHSP)
Program Goal
Through 2028, the Maternal Health Innovation program and the Maternal Health Task Force will work collaboratively to promote and implement innovations that support positive maternal health outcomes and reduce the risk of maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity. The program goals will be supported through the Program Objectives pertaining to the four MHI focus areas. Long-term outcomes include:
- improving systems of care for prenatal and postpartum women
- improve capacity of maternal health workforce increasing access to maternal healthcare and
- removing barriers addressing the needs of women living within maternal care deserts
Program Objectives
Continuum of care
Objective
Improve patient access to a continuum of affordable, high quality, holistic, and unbiased clinical care and health services for women in their own community that respects the person as a partner in achieving their own well-being.
Planned innovations
- Pilot a cuff project for providers to distribute blood pressure cuffs for high-risk patients
- Create and disseminate a systems map of maternal health partners and services
- Increase access to telehealth services
Maternal health workforce supports
Objective
Strengthen the maternal health care workforce with training, technical assistance, and system supports necessary to provide quality care across the service spectrum.
Planned innovations
- Support pathways to doula training and credentialing
- Deliver educational trainings and birth simulations to rural sites (ex, critical access hospitals)
- Plan and host annual birth workers symposium for maternal health providers
- Create and disseminate a systems map of maternal health partners and services
Enhancing maternal health data
Objective
Enable the collection and access to high quality data that are accurate, accessible, and tell a comprehensive story of maternal care in Kansas.
Planned innovations
- Create a universal notification of pregnancy/risk screener
- Supporting linkage of data: Medicaid, live birth, and hospital discharge data, providing comprehensive insights into maternal and infant health outcomes, healthcare utilization, and the social determinants of health, while addressing a key gap in our understanding of these factors.
- Create and utilize universal data sharing agreement
Community engagement
Objective
Engage with women, caregivers, providers, and other community stakeholders actively and meaningfully across the spectrum and at all levels of maternal health care.
Planned innovations
- Support and promote Kansas Perinatal Community Collaborative model with Becoming a Mom® curriculum
- Recruit a diverse task force of maternal health professionals, providers, and community members with professional or lived expertise
- Create and disseminate Kansas version of Childbirth Bill of Rights with plan for most efficient method of utilization
Access more information on our current initiatives:
Funding
This initiative is supported by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment with funding through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under grant number #U7AMC50508, titled State Maternal Health Innovation.