State health officials in Mississippi are working to launch a new service to provide additional care to pregnant women and their babies.
The Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) is spearheading the effort to create a new OB system of care aimed at reversing the state’s troubling maternal mortality numbers. The Magnolia State’s maternal mortality rate of 23.2 deaths per 100,000 live births ranks among the worst nationally. In the U.S., the average mortality rate is 18.6 per 100,000 live births.
When it comes to infant mortality rates, the numbers are no better in Mississippi. Current statistics indicate that the state’s infant mortality rate is 9.2 per 1,000 births, compared to 5.6 per 1,000 births nationally.
To combat these startling figures, state health leaders recently brought together partners from around Mississippi, including doctors, nurses, hospitals, emergency medicine, EMS, the Division of Medicaid, managed care organizations, and other providers to discuss ways forward in developing a coordinated system of care.
Some of the factors involved in the maternal and infant deaths are linked to rural travel times, less than adequate prenatal care, lack of transparency with birthing programs “locate” data, EMS difficulties, NICU availability, lack of regional perinatal systems, and less than adequate transfer systems.
“The problem is not physicians, nurses, hospitals, EMS quality, healthcare quality in Mississippi, or Medicaid,” State Health Officer Dr. Dan Edney said. “The problem is the system. There has not been a guiding force to get mothers to the right hospital – not necessarily the closest. Moms at high risk are having problems being transferred from one facility to another. I believe with coordination, collaboration, and cooperation, we can reduce this unacceptable mortality rate.”
The proposed OB system of care would create increased prenatal care opportunities, prenatal regionalization, maternal and neonatal levels of care designation, facilitated and expedited transfers to appropriate levels of care, the opportunity to activate with a 911 call, an opportunity to incorporate the state’s Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health safety initiative work, and performance improvement data.
In essence, the goal is to drastically improve access to care and early intervention to provide more resources to expecting Mississippi mothers through a coordinated network of services.
Once initiated, this would be the fourth system of care in the state, joining the ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction, the system of care for heart attacks, the stroke system of care, and the trauma care system. Mississippi is the only state in the United States with three systems of care, and now four.
