Enhancing Reviews and Surveillance to Eliminate Maternal Mortality - Abstract The South Carolina Maternal Morbidity Mortality Review Committee (SCMMMRC) was established by state legislation in 2016. This state law directs the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) to convene the multidisciplinary committee to review pregnancy associated deaths. The overall goals of the SCMMMRC are to determine the annual number of pregnancy associated deaths that are pregnancy related, identify risks and trends among preventable pregnancy related deaths in SC and develop actionable recommendations of prevention and intervention. This funding opportunity will provide support needed to expand the existing MMRC to (1) improve availability, quality, and timeliness of MMRC data, (2) improve multidisciplinary, population-level review of pregnancy related deaths and documentation of recommendations for prevention and to (3) improve dissemination, access to and employment of quality MMRIA data to drive opportunities for prevention. The long-term outcome of the SCMMMRC is eliminate preventable pregnancy related deaths and improve maternal outcomes for women in South Carolina. We will build on methods and lessons learned from previous and current methodologies and explore new opportunities for case identification, case ascertainment, data quality and data dissemination. We will collaborate with partners to increase awareness and understanding of maternal mortality in SC to include policy makers, facilities, providers, systems, community organizations, and patients/families with a health equity lens. High quality data abstraction, data quality assurance, and dissemination of MMRIA data are the pillars of the program. The SCMMMRC will continue to publish the annual legislation brief and promote MMRIA data driven recommendations at the system, facility, provider, patient, community, and levels and focus on populations that are disproportionately affected by pregnancy associated deaths. The SCMMMRC will continue to promote BIPOC and community partner memberships on the committee and engage the membership by relying on their area of subject matter expertise at reviews, survey participation, and work group involvement. The SCMMMRC will continue to participate in national CDC MM ERASE abstractor and analyst calls for best practices and send four individuals to the annual conference. The SCMMMRC will utilize the funding provided in this grant opportunity to expand resources and collaborate with the CDC project officer to improve maternal outcomes in South Carolina.
