Over the past year, the NC Division of Medical Assistance, the NC Division of Public Health and CCNC have been working together to develop a new program designed to provide comprehensive, coordinated maternity care to pregnant Medicaid patients. The program aims to improve the quality of maternity care, improve outcomes for mothers and babies, and reduce medical care costs.
The Pregnancy Medical Home (PMH) program began implementation in March. As a pregnancy medical home, obstetrical care providers are supported by the partnership to increase access to care and improve birth outcomes for pregnant Medicaid recipients.
CCNC’s 14 local networks each have an OB physician champion and an OB nurse coordinator responsible for recruiting and supporting practices. Currently, more than 200 practices and clinics have signed contracts to become a PMH.
The Pregnancy Medical Home program is an outcome-driven initiative monitored for specific performance standards. By participating, maternity care providers receive financial incentives for risk screenings and evaluations, as well as ongoing support from a pregnancy care manager and the local CCNC network. In turn, practices agree to work toward quality improvement goals, including reducing elective deliveries prior to 39 weeks, performing standardized initial risk screening, using 17P to prevent recurrent preterm birth, reducing primary c-section rates and collaborating with pregnancy care management programs to serve high-risk patients.
More information on the program is available here.