State Maternal Health Innovation & Data Capacity Program

This notice announces the opportunity to apply for funding under the State Maternal Health Innovation (MHI) and Data Capacity Program. The purpose of this program is to support state capacity to improve maternal health and address maternal health disparities through quality services, a skilled workforce, enhanced data quality and capacity, and innovative programming that aims to reduce maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity (SMM). The program addresses the high rates of these adverse maternal health outcomes by engaging public health professionals, providers, payers, and consumers to implement evidence-based interventions and policy changes that address critical gaps in and needs for services within the following categories: • Direct clinical care; • Workforce training; • Maternal health data enhancements; and, • Community engagement. This program seeks to improve state capacity through a coordinated effort using public health approaches, direct service delivery, and maternal health data to support the implementation of innovative maternal health strategies. A primary program component is the creation of and support for a state-focused Maternal Health Task Force (MHTF). Each MHTF is expected to create and implement a maternal health strategic plan that incorporates activities outlined in the state’s most recent State Title V Needs Assessment, improves state-level data surveillance on maternal mortality and SMM, and implements innovative strategies targeted at the state’s leading causes of adverse maternal health outcomes. Addressing maternal health data limitations is the secondary program component, and this funding opportunity will support improvements in the quality, validity, access to, and timeliness of maternal health data in order to enhance reporting and tracking of maternal health indicators within and outside of the clinical setting. These data enhancements will be used to support the identification and advancement of innovative maternal health strategies and to assess their impact on maternal health. The State MHI program was established in September 2019, and currently funds nine states to collaborate with maternal health experts, build state capacity in addressing key maternal health indicators, and optimize resources to implement state-specific actions that address disparities in maternal health and improve maternal health. This program has been modified since the initial competition to incorporate and integrate the use of data collected through the Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health (AIM) program and other sources of maternal health data into the design, implementation, and tracking of state maternal health innovations. A portion of funding for this program is dedicated to improving the collection, analysis, and reporting of high-quality and timely process, structure, and outcome data for the AIM program. This will drive continuous improvement in the implementation of the AIM patient safety bundles by state-based teams through a continuous quality framework. Patient safety bundles are a set of small, straightforward evidence-based practices, which when implemented collectively and reliably in the delivery setting have improved patient outcomes and reduced maternal mortality and SMM. In 2022, this program seeks to build state capacity to improve the quality, validity, access to, and timeliness of maternal health data; identify the leading factors that contribute to maternal mortality and SMM; and, strengthen state-level efforts to implement innovative strategies through coordination and alignment with AIM. This funding opportunity will support 9 state-focused projects tasked with translating maternal health innovations and recommendations from ideas to action.