By In an ongoing effort to reduce infant mortality and improve maternal health outcomes, Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center Torrance has joined the Cherished Futures for Black Moms and Babies initiative of South Los Angeles and the Antelope Valley.
The program’s goal is to reduce the gap in infant mortality rates between Black and white babies by 30% by 2023. It also seeks to improve health outcomes by decreasing pregnancy and birth complications from hypertension, lowering hemorrhage rates and decreasing the number of low birthweight babies in the neonatal ICU.
As a part of its 2020 objectives, Cherished Futures supports pilot hospitals such as Providence Little Company of Mary in developing and implementing plans that adopt culturally relevant interventions to better serve Black birthing women and their families.
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Providence Little Company of Mary is currently in the implementation phase of the project. An essential step of this stage is to recognize and acknowledge racial biases, so the hospital staff have been participating in implicit bias tests and educational sessions to better understand their preconceptions.
Other hospitals involved in the program are Antelope Valley Hospital, California Hospital Medical Center, Eisner Pediatric and Family Medical Center, Cedars-Sinai, and Centinela Hospital Medical Center.
WHY THIS MATTERS
The infant mortality rate in Los Angeles County is more than three times higher for Black babies than white babies, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. For every 1,000 births, about 10 Black babies die, compared to about three white babies.
These inequalities stretch much further than Los Angeles and even past California. While the national infant mortality rate is 5.8 deaths per 1,000 live births, the rate jumps to 11 deaths for every 1,000 live births of Black babies, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The maternal mortality rate is also significantly higher for Black women than white women. In fact, about 41 Black women experience pregnancy-related deaths for every 100,000 births, compared to white women who have a rate of about 13 deaths for every 100,000 births, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC recommends that hospitals implement quality of care improvement initiatives, especially in facilities that serve minority populations, and educate their staff on implicit biases in healthcare.
THE LARGER TREND
In another effort to improve the maternal health of California mothers, a group of state lawmakers sent letters to Aetna and UnitedHealthcare urging them to fully cover noninvasive prenatal testing for all pregnant women.
During HIMSS’ Global Health Equity Week in October, speakers advocated for technology and data improvements that could lower rates of maternal mortality. The parent company of Healthcare Finance News also announced its Global Maternal Health Tech Challenge, a worldwide call to action to create technology solutions focused on improving maternal health outcomes.
Besides these actions, tech companies have also taken an interest in maternal health. One is Oula, which recently picked up $3.2 million in seed funding for its multimodal care platform and brick-and-mortar services.
