Vice President Kamala Harris today hosted the first federal Maternal Health Day of Action and issued a nationwide call to action to both the public and private sectors to help improve maternal health outcomes in the United States.
The Maternal Health Day of Action included a summit with expert panels on childbirth experience, working parents, maternal health advocacy, and systemic challenges.
As part of the call to action, the Biden administration announced new commitments to support pregnancies and childbirth while reducing complications and mortality in the year following birth. Notably, the administration will:
- support the Build Back Better Act, which includes a $3 billion investment in maternal health;
- encourage states to expand postpartum coverage through new guidance from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services;
- report on the impact of postpartum coverage;
- create a new designation of the quality of maternal health services for hospitals, including a “birthing friendly” hospital designation; and
- allow states to establish maternal health homes to better coordinate health care.
Essential Hospitals Institute Launches Learning Collaborative on Black Maternal Health
Coinciding with the administration’s call to action, America’s Essential Hospitals today announced a learning collaborative of 12 member hospitals to reduce morbidity and mortality for Black pregnant or birthing patients and improve their obstetric outcomes. The initiative will be guided by Essential Hospitals Institute, the association’s research, education, dissemination, and leadership development arm, and funded with an $847,000 investment by CVS Health Foundation. CVS highlighted the association project and others it has funded in a news release about its support of the administration’s call to action.
