Wednesday, February 5, 2025
2/5/2025
Proposed Project and Purpose The Maternal Mortality Review Program (MMRP) at Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) has an established history of implementing the Enhancing Reviews and Surveillance to Eliminate Maternal Mortality (ERASE MM) Grant. The Arizona MMRC is a multidisciplinary team that includes clinicians from urban and rural health centers, public health professionals, community service providers, patient advisors, and community advocates. In Arizona, the populations of focus include American Indian or Alaska Native, Black or African American, Medicaid-insured, rural residents, and those with a high school/GED education or less. The ERASE MM award will allow MMRP to focus its efforts on systematically improving data availability, standardization, and quality to better identify and characterize pregnancy-related deaths in a timely manner, through collaborations with CDC initiatives and supplemental identification methods in order to identify, abstract, and review cases within 12 months, 18 months and 24 months, respectively. These funds will also assist the program in increasing engagement and cooperation between MMRCs, partners, and communities to communicate information from data related to health inequities and pregnancy-related deaths in order to develop and implement strategies to prevent pregnancy-related deaths and reduce disparities among disproportionately impacted populations. This outcome will be accomplished by maintaining the committee’s inclusivity of clinical and non-clinical disciplines and representatives of communities disproportionately affected by pregnancy-related mortality. Other strategies include conducting annual membership composition surveys, prioritizing filling identified gaps in expertise, compensating select members for their involvement, and providing opportunities for non-verbal engagement in case reviews. These funds will help to increase the availability of MMRC recommendations among communities, clinicians, public health practitioners, and decision-makers. This will be accomplished by establishing an analytic plan for pregnancy-related MMRIA data to provide information on burden and opportunities for prevention, overcoming data suppression challenges through multi-year analyses, and implementing dissemination strategies that prioritize public health action, sustain partnerships with communities, and support practice, program, and policy changes. These funds will help increase adoption of clinical and non-clinical policies and programs that reflect the highest standards of care. This outcome will be achieved by developing a strategic plan that involves collaboration among clinical and non-clinical partners to drive implementation of recommendations. Simultaneously, these funds will support the implementation of recommendations that reach or consider the needs of populations disproportionately affected by pregnancy-related mortality by ensuring representatives of these populations are engaged at every step of the process from case review to reporting to community engagement. Achieving these outcomes would not be possible without collaboration between governmental and various nongovernmental organizations including non-profit and community-based organizations, professional businesses, and tribal entities driven by the mutual goal of advancing health equity, reducing maternal mortality, and improving maternal health outcomes.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).