Promoting Maternal Health Improvement and Equity Through Collaboration

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is pleased to launch a new learning collaborative focused on two additional Maternal and Infant Health Initiative priority area topics, “Improving Maternal Mental Health and Substance Use Care and Outcomes” and “Improving Maternal Hypertension Control”. Maternal mental illness is the leading cause of pregnancy-related deaths in the U.S. Substance use during pregnancy, such as alcohol, tobacco, opioids and marijuana, places the birthing person and the fetus at risk. Uncontrolled high blood pressure (hypertension), both common and preventable, contributes to adverse outcomes and death before, during, and after pregnancy and decades later. As the largest public payer of births nationwide, Medicaid and CHIP programs have a significant role in enhancing systems of care to improve maternal health, reduce preventable maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity, and support equitable outcomes for all.”