Feds award $17M to support maternal and newborn health in Maine
The Maine Department of Health and Human Services will receive a grant of nearly $17 million to improve maternal and newborn health care.
The money was awarded by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid to DHHS’s Office of MaineCare Services.
Maine was one of 15 states selected to participate in the program.
The program aims to improve maternal and newborn health outcomes for people enrolled in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
“Creating a system of care where every pregnant person has timely access to the perinatal care and support they need, regardless of their circumstances or where they live, is fundamental to ensuring the best outcomes for pregnant people and their babies so that families can thrive,” said Sara Gagné-Holmes, DHHS’s commissioner.
The grant will be administered over 10 years and will be used to enhance Maine’s maternal health care services through increased access and quality of supports, improved data infrastructure and advancing equity-focused initiatives.
The award will help MaineCare address maternal health across the state, by focusing on improving access to care, advancing patient safety and fostering whole-person care delivery.
MaineCare, the state’s Medicaid program, will lead the effort in collaboration with the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention and other partners.
The 10-year program consists of a three-year pre-implementation phase followed by seven years of implementation.
Maine’s obstetric landscape “has experienced a significant transformation in recent decades,” with over a dozen obstetric units closed since 1970 and half of those closures occurring in the last decade, according to a needs assessment of the obstetric workforce in Maine’s rural hospitals, commissioned by MaineHealth to the Roux Institute at Northeastern University and published in January 2024.
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