Friday, April 4, 2025
4/4/2025
State Maternal Health Innovation Program - Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital’s (MHMH) Maternal Health Innovation (MHI) project team, NH state partners and community collaborators will work toward advancing the MHI overarching purpose over 5 years. For this MHI project MHMH will work with the NH Maternal Child Health Department/Title V program (NHMCH), persons with lived expertise of pregnancy and disparate perinatal health outcomes, birthing hospitals, community organizations, and other NH perinatal health stakeholders. The project will achieve the following goals over 5 years: 1) Recruit, engage, and convene a Maternal Health Task Force (MHTF) to draft and finalize a Maternal Health Strategic Plan (MHSP) then implement MHSP activities; 2) Co-create a comprehensive MHI evaluation plan to assess and report on program activities over the full performance period; 3) Improve state-level maternal health surveillance data quality, collection and application; 4) Continue to increase number persons with lived expertise of pregnancy and perinatal health disparities who are members of the MHTF and share in decision-making re: MHSP priorities, activities and evaluation; 5) Release a public Maternal Health Annual Report each year of the period of performance; and 6) together with the MHTF will support implementation of innovative initiatives based on the MHSP to improve maternal health and identify those with potential for scaling and replication. Our underlying approach aims to build out a statewide system of 12 regional perinatal task forces (RPTF) associated with the MHTF, each with the capacity to implement innovation activities of the MHSP. MHMH’s MHI staff leaders have already started implementing and building support over the last 12 months, and MHI support will allow us to continue improving and growing MHTF engagement, partnerships, and data systems needed to complete the MHSP. More than 200 NH stakeholders, including persons affected by perinatal health disparities have participated to-date in developing the ideas this MHI project will improve and bring to scale. A core aspect of our MHI approach is co-production with all stakeholders inclusive of those with lived expertise from communities disproportionally impacted by maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity. MHMH is well-qualified to lead this maternal health innovation project (MHI). For 20+ years, MHMH has led the Northern New England Perinatal Quality Improvement Network (NNEPQIN), which fosters dissemination of perinatal knowledge and best practices between hospitals in VT, NH, and ME. This same staff team has worked for 20+ years with NHMCH to improve perinatal data systems, implement AIM Bundles in birthing hospitals; and facilitate Maternal Mortality Review Committee services. For the past 12 months, this same team has led development of a NH-specific Perinatal Quality Collaborative that includes many statewide partners who will become part of the MHTF in our MHI project. This long history of collaborative work with our state partners ensures our MHI project will build off existing state work of Title V and other NHMCH initiatives avoiding duplication and the support of varied stakeholders.
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).