Increase Access to Quality Health Care Working Group
Improving gaps in access to care for moms, babies and families.
To curb the rising rates of maternal morbidity and death and poor infant health outcomes, birthing people must have access to high-quality health care throughout their lives.
This working group advances solutions to address the shortage of maternity care providers and facilities, issues tied to health care insurance coverage and affordability, provider bias and access to culturally congruent care, and overall gaps in quality of health care.
They will take actions that include:
- Advocating for policies to increase equitable access to risk appropriate birthing options
- Supporting programs that aim to increase racial diversity in the health care workforce
- Identifying and developing best practices for implicit bias and stigma training for providers and support staff, while also supporting organizations as they examine and alter their own policies and structures that inadvertently perpetuate inequitable care
WORKING GROUP CO-CHAIRS
Co-Chair: Susan Kendig, JD, WHNP-BC, FAANP
Women’s Health Integration Specialist, SSM Health Maternal Services, St. Louis, MO, and Director of Policy for the National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health (NPWH).
Tana-kae Lewis, RN, MSN
Alabama Department of Public Health
Elizabeth Lanter, LCSW
Independent Consultant and Clinician
WORKING GROUP MEMBERS
This working group is comprised of over 40 individual and organizational partners, including:
News & Resources
Read this press release announcing approval by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to extend Medicaid state plan benefits from 60 days to six months to postpartum women with incomes up to 220 percent of the federal poverty level.
An article examining how women of color are more likely to experience complications related to pregnancy, including poor maternal health outcomes and preterm birth.
A story reporting how Georgia received an “F” on the 2020 March of Dimes Report Card because of its increasing number of preterm births. 2020 was the second straight year that Georgia received a failing grade from March of Dimes.
GET INVOLVED
Every family can have the best possible start. But today, too many moms and babies are dying or experiencing serious health complications related to childbirth—and far too many are moms and babies of color. Only by working together can we confront inequities and ensure the health and wellbeing of every family.
