Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation
Presentation Abstract
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Maternity Care Action Plan
Addressing the United States’ maternity care crisis is a key priority for the Biden-Harris Administration. In December 2021, Vice President Kamala Harris convened the first-ever federal Maternal Health Day of Action, where she announced a historic Call to Action to improve maternal health outcomes across the United States. In June 2022, the White House released a Blueprint for Addressing the Maternal Health Crisis, which describes the Administration’s whole-of-government approach to improving maternal health and addressing persistent inequities in maternal health outcomes. As described in the White House blueprint, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has taken a holistic look at its policies and programs to identify opportunities to enhance maternity care delivered to enrollees in Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and the Health Insurance Marketplace® – specifically, through a focus on driving improvements in access to and quality of care during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period. This effort is a central component of CMS’ work to advance health equity. Across income and education level, people of color are far more likely to die from pregnancy related complications. In some cases, Black and American Indian and Alaska Native people are up to five times more likely to die due to pregnancy-related causes than their White peers. This presentation will discuss CMS’ coordinated action plan that spans five key areas of CMS programs and is intended to improve maternity care access, quality, and health outcomes while also reducing disparities.
About Dr. Cross-Barnet
Dr. Caitlin Cross-Barnet earned her Ph.D. in sociology from Johns Hopkins University with a concentration in social inequality. Since 2012, she has served as a Social Science Research Analyst at the Innovation Center at CMS. Her prior projects included Strong Start for Mothers and Newborns and the Health Care Innovation Awards, and her current projects are Integrated Care for Kids and the Maternal Opioid Misuse Model. Dr. Cross-Barnet’s research priorities include maternal-child health, health equity, and implementing care and payment innovations. Her work has been published in numerous journals such as Women’s Health Issues, Maternal and Child Health Journal, and Health Affairs, among others.
Conflict of interest disclosure is not applicable because Dr. Cross-Barnet is a federal employee.