Thursday, April 3, 2025
4/3/2025
Southern California Pregnancy-Associated Mortality Review - California has maintained a low rate of pregnancy-related mortality compared with the rest of the country. However, some California birthing populations – namely, Black communities, populations with Medicaid coverage, and those living in less healthy community conditions – continue to experience disproportionately higher rates of pregnancy-related deaths. In 2006, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health (MCAH) Division established the California Pregnancy-Associated Mortality Review (CA-PAMR), more recently known as the California Pregnancy-Associated Review Committee (CA-PARC). CA-PARC is a collaboration with contracting partners – Stanford University’s California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative (CMQCC) and the Public Health Institute (PHI) – and multidisciplinary committees of clinical and community experts to investigate maternal deaths and inform quality improvement strategies to improve the outcomes of pregnant and postpartum women and promote health equity. Findings from recent CA-PARC in-depth case reviews in a multi-county Southern California region show that nearly one-third of pregnancy-related deaths had a good chance of being averted, but opportunities to intervene were missed (unpublished data). With CDC ERASE grant (DP-24-0053) funding, California is well-positioned to carry out actions to reduce pregnancy-related mortality. The CA-PARC team expects to achieve the following outcomes by the end of the period of performance: (1) Increased timeliness, accuracy, and standardization of information available about pregnancy-related deaths, including CA-PARC (SOCAL PAMR subcommittee) identified opportunities for prevention; (2) increased engagement and cooperation between CA-PARC, partners, and communities to communicate information from data on pregnancy-related deaths; (3) increased availability of CA-PARC recommendations among communities, clinicians, public health practitioners, and decision makers; (4) increased adoption of clinical and non-clinical policies and programs that reflect the highest standards of care; and (5) increased implementation of recommendations that reach or consider the needs of populations disproportionately affected by pregnancy-related mortality.
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).