Minnesota - and the nation -  Ripe for maternity reform right now.

Partnering to Improve Maternity Care Quality Act of 2010 Filed in House of Representatives! 
Childbirth Connection is pleased to inform eNews subscribers that Congressman Elliot Engel (D-NY) and Congresswoman Sue Myrick (R-NC) have just filed the Partnering to Improve Maternity Care Quality Act of 2010 (HR 6437). Childbirth Connection was honored to work with the offices of Mr. Engel and Mrs. Myrick on this significant bipartisan legislation.  

 This act is designed to improve the quality, health outcomes, and value of care for childbearing women and newborns covered by Medicaid and CHIP (Child Health Insurance Program).

One set of provisions will help measure, improve, and make decisions based on maternity care quality by: 
•  identifying a core set of available maternity care quality measures
•  working with measure developers to create, test, and endorse quality measures to fill
    important gaps in available measures 
•  adapting the generic provider, facility and health plan CAHPS surveys (Consumer Assessment of
    Healthcare Providers and Systems) for measuring care experiences of childbearing women and
    newborns 
 •  developing effective formats and processes for reporting results of quality measurement to
    those who are measured (clinicians, facilities, accountable care organizations, health plans)
    and to consumers, policy makers and payers
 •  conversion and testing of existing endorsed maternity care quality measures to eMeasures
    collected through health records and other electronic data sources  
•  reporting on the various elements of the maternity care quality measurement program, and
    identifying further mechanisms for maternity care improvement 
•  carrying out the work with ongoing multi-stakeholder consultation to strengthen the program.
  
Other major sections of the act will: 
•  create a demonstration project to test the impact of innovative payment reform mechanisms 
    on the quality, value, and outcomes of maternity care provided to Medicaid beneficiaries 
•  support an Institute of Medicine report to identify essential, evidence-based services for
    childbearing women and newborns. 

Partnering to Improve Maternity Care Quality includes provisions recommended in two Childbirth Connection reports: Evidence-Based Maternity Care: What It Is and What It Can Achieve (2008) and the “Blueprint for Action: Steps toward a High-Quality, High-Value Maternity Care System” (2010). Childbirth Connection issued Evidence-Based Maternity Care together with the Reforming States Group and the Milbank Memorial Fund. The Blueprint was developed through the Transforming Maternity Care project, a multi-disciplinary, multi-stakeholder collaboration that engaged leaders from across the health care system over two and one-half years in identifying priority actions for driving maternity care quality improvement.

eNews readers are encouraged to:
•  read, share, and comment on the Partnering to Improve Maternity Care Quality Act of 2010
•  call the offices of Rep. Engel (202 225-2464) and Rep. Myrick (202 225-1976) to thank them for
    their exceptional commitment to childbearing women and newborns
•  urge your representative in Congress to co-sponsor H.R. 6437 now, and again when the act is
    re-introduced in the new Congress in January
•  read the press release from Congressman Engel’s office .

   Best wishes,

Maureen Corry
Executive Director
Childbirth Connection 

From early in 2010

National Birth Center Legislation is in need of support now!

1. 1. From BirthCenters.org: Please call your U.S. Representative and two Senators to ask them to support The Medicaid Birth Center Reimbursement Act.  In the House, it is bill H.R. 2358. In the Senate it is bill S.1423.   Strong bipartisan co-sponsorship in the House and Senate are critical.  ACT NOW!

      Call Your Legislators in 5 Easy Steps

      1. CALL your 2 U.S. SENATORS and U.S. Representative at their D.C. offices.
      To find your Senators and their contact information, click here.
      To find your Representative and his/her contact information, click here.
      OR
      Call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask for your Senator or Representative Keep trying if you don't get through. We must make our voices heard and there are many people calling about health care reform and the energy bill.
   2. Speak with your Senator's legislative health assistant. Be sure to get his/her name.  This is critical information for Karen to follow-up with the staff. Please note that we have found that emails and messages left with receptionists are not working.
   3. Ask that your Senator/Representative co-sponsor The Medicaid Birth Center Reimbursement Act (H.R. 2359 in the House, S.1423 in the Senate). Tell them CMS is denying payment for birth center facility charges, so we have introduced legislation to Congress adding Birth centers to Medicaid's covered services. This is a permanent solution to the payment crisis.
   4. Call or email AABC's lobbyist Karen Fennell and tell her who you talked with and any comments or additional information requested. Call Karen at 301-830-3910; Send email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Last year the efforts were:

The birth center bill originated in the Senate as S.F. 780- with Chief Author, Linda Berglin: 





























































Birthing center licensure establishment.

House of Representatives member today in support of HF 1795, which would establish birth centers in Minnesota. 

S.F. 1468-Marty: Hospital policy on cesarean section regulation is tabled until 2010.

















S.F. 1469-Marty: Individual health plan coverage denial for previous
cesarean delivery prohibition. 

Better Birth. Lower Cost.

Senators Berglin and Pappas introduced Senate File 0780, a bill to license birth centers in Minnesota, in Winter 2009.  All women at low risk for their birth could receive excellent, evidence-based care at a lower cost than hospitals could charge.  (Senator Berlin, photo left)

Senator Marty authored two VBAC bills (vaginal birth after cesarean). The first, SF1469 would prohibit a health carrier (insurance company or MA) from refusing to cover a resident solely on the basis of a previous cesarean delivery. Senator Marty's second bill, SF1468 would prohibit hospitals from prohibiting a pregnant woman from choosing a vaginal birth solely because the woman has previously undergone delivery by cesarean section. (Twin Cities ICAN members Sarah Shannon and Heather Deatrick testify with Senator Marty, here consulting with Maureen Campion of Parenting Oasis, photo right)

Another bill of interest, SF1478, authored by Senator Sheid, explored whether the Minnesota Health Dept can be exempt from parental informed consent for using newborn blood samples in DNA tests beyond the purposes of newborn metabolic screening (PKU, Hyperthyroidism, etc).

Please write or email your legislators concerning these bills. Read more about the Birth Center Bill and Birth Center thoughts on MinnesotaBirth's Birth Center article.

Currently there are out-of-hospital birth centers opening in Minnesota. Morning Star Womens' Health and Birth Center in Edina (until the St. Louis Park bldg opens) is the new sister center to MorningStar in Menomenie, WI. Nearly 20% of the families birthing there with Paula Bernini Feigal come from the Twin Cities area. Minnesota families would like birth center care for their births. Amy Johnson-Grass, ND, is opening a birth center on Grand Ave. in St. Paul during the winter of 2010, hopefully in February.

Our March for Better Birth was in the news!

Click to read Care 11 article

For more information, visit Minnesota Better Birth Coalition or join us on Facebook.