Prenatal Care

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Indiana has historically trailed in public health spending per resident compared to national averages ($55 in Indiana, $91 nationally)ⁱ and is often among states with the highest maternal mortality rate. In 2023, Senate Enrolled Act 4 was signed into law, appropriating $225 million for public health investments through the Health First Indiana program. Of this investment, $75 million is available to participating counties in FY24 and $150 million in FY25. Counties participating in the Health First Indiana program must spend at least 60% of their allocation on “Core Public Health Services” — one of which is maternal and child health.

TAKING ACTION

Local

Connect youth and family services organizations with local/regional hospitals and clinics to expand community-based models that make it easier for pregnant individuals to access care and support.

State

Continue investments in Health First Indiana and allow midwife and Doula services to be billed through Medicaid by providing funding as originally proposed in SB 416.

Federal

Expand the State Maternal Health Innovation Program to allow additional states to collaborate and improve maternal health outcomes.

Click the arrow below to discover Promising Practices!

Promising Practices are programs or policies that have shown early signs of measurable success following implementation. Highlighting these programs is part of IYI’s commitment to bring high-quality practice models and provide resources to youth workers and leaders in the state. The Promising Practices highlighted within “Data in Action” include accompanying evidence that demonstrates either proof of concept or shows successful replication.

Promising Practice

CenteringPregnancy

CenteringPregnancy is a group-based model of care in which trained facilitators guide a group of eight to 10 women of similar gestational age through a curriculum of 10 interactive group prenatal care visits that are 90-120 minutes long. Using the CenteringPregnancy model, women receive individualized assessments which are followed by a facilitated group discussion. Although these sessions address many of the same aspects of pregnancy covered by traditional prenatal care – such as nutrition, stress managements, labor and birth, and infant care – they are intentionally designed to involve women in their care. Implementation of the CenteringPregnancy model in states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Georgia has shown some evidence of decreasing the rate of preterm and low-weight births and increasing mothers’ engagement in their own care while reducing racial disparities in preterm births.^{i, ii}

Published

July 30, 2024

Type

Data in Action