Michigan Perinatal Quality Collaborative - The Michigan Perinatal Quality Collaborative (MI PQC) is applying for Component A of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Notice of Funding Award for Statewide Perinatal Quality Collaboratives to support increasing capacity of the PQC to conduct perinatal quality improvement (QI) initiatives that make measurable improvements in perinatal healthcare and outcomes statewide. The MI PQC is expecting to achieve 1) increased participation of birthing hospitals statewide in the PQC, especially in areas disproportionately impacted by adverse perinatal health outcomes, and 2) increased implementation of patient safety bundles and other QI efforts to reduce disparities in perinatal outcomes. Various strategies and activities will be implemented as methods to achieve these outcomes in the period of performance, October 1, 2022 through September 30, 2023. Efforts to increase participation of birthing hospitals in the MI PQC will be focused on providing outreach and engagement to birthing hospitals with limited or no participation in the PQC; building partnerships between the PQC and the birthing hospitals; supporting hospitals in the utilization of the CDC Levels of Care Assessment Tool (LOCATe); providing trainings related to unconscious bias, patient safety bundles, health inequities, and etcetera for PQC members and clinical staff, as well as encourage birthing hospital staff to share lessons learned and best practices related to QI efforts with PQC membership. These strategies focus on active engagement, recruitment, and outreach activities to establish relationships between the birthing hospitals and the MI PQC. Increasing engagement between these entities is also expected to improve collaboration between community-based services and clinical care, improving the holistic approach to health and well-being of all pregnant and birthing people and infants. As the MI PQC works to increase implementation of patient safety bundles and other QI efforts to reduce disparities in perinatal outcomes, focus will turn to enhancing collaboration between programs such as the Michigan Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health (MI AIM), the Obstetrics Initiative (OBI), birthing hospitals and the MI PQC; supporting patient safety bundle implementation through technical assistance; utilizing the MI AIM data dashboard for progress monitoring; and engaging birthing hospitals in health equity QI efforts led through the MI PQC. Providing support to the birthing hospitals in their implementation of quality improvement efforts should result in improvements in perinatal outcomes. Collaboration and engagement are the common themes that run through the strategies that will be utilized to address the period performance outcomes in year one of the grant period. The MI PQC has extensive experience in collaborating with diverse community and clinically based organizations in all efforts to improve perinatal health and reduce disparate outcomes in perinatal populations. This experience will prove advantageous in the implementation of the initiatives outlined in this application. The MI PQC is committed to reducing disparities in perinatal health and improving overall outcomes for pregnant/birthing people and infants.
