Kansas receives $17 million to address maternal mortality rate

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) - Kansas gets low marks when it comes to a mother’s healthcare before and after giving birth. The mortality rate for moms in Kansas is 30 percent higher than the goals set by the state and federal health officials.

On Wednesday, Gov. Laura Kelly announced new funding to help change those outcomes. Kansas is one of 15 states selected by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to participate in the Transforming Maternal Health (TMaH) Model program, which includes a $17 million grant over the next 10 years, to improve maternal and child health care for Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) members.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) will use the funding to enhance its work through Kansas Medicaid and Maternal and Child Health programming. The TMaH model focuses on the whole-person approach to pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum care, addressing the physical, mental health, and social needs experienced during pregnancy.

“The goal is to really provide women with better prenatal care, better postpartum support, and to give them the opportunity to be able to have care for the year after they have their baby, as opposed to the six weeks after they have their baby,” said Dr. Caryn Bryant, an OBGYN at Healthcore Clinic in Wichita.

The funding will support Kansas’ efforts to address disparities among underserved populations at higher risk for poor maternal outcomes.

From 2016 to 2018, about two-thirds of the maternal deaths in Kansas were among racial and ethnic minorities and 5 deaths were non-Hispanic white women.

KDHE reports that nearly two-thirds of the women who died had either completed high school or general educational development (GED) or had less education than high school. Less than half had private insurance; others had Medicaid, no insurance, or unknown insurance status.

“Sometimes for the woman to get to the doctor’s appointment in the first six weeks, and then that insurance is lost. So if they have more time to deal with those types of situations, that will provide so much better care for them,” said Dr. Bryant.

The TMaH model is centered on three pillars, which include access to care, infrastructure and workforce capacity, quality improvement and safety, and whole-person care delivery.

The grant will allow KDHE to build upon its work in the following:

• Hospital Engagement for Birthing-Friendly Designation: KDHE, in collaboration with the Kansas Perinatal Quality Collaborative, the Kansas Maternal Mortality Review Committee, and other partners, is recruiting and educating facilities to achieve CMS’s birthing-friendly designation status. TMaH will align with these key public health initiatives to further address barriers and increase quality services and patient safety.
• Whole-Person Care: KDHE’s Kansas Connecting Communities and Maternal Anti-Violence Innovation and Sharing programs will be pivotal in enhancing the patient education and universal screening components of the TMaH model. These programs offer provider consultation, training, and technical assistance for perinatal mental health, substance use, and intimate partner violence. Resources will be scaled to ensure the behavioral health and social determinants of the health needs of all patients.
• Telehealth and Telemonitoring Prioritization: TMaH will enhance telehealth services to overcome geographic barriers, improving access to specialists and reducing travel. KDHE will implement robust telemonitoring for hypertension and gestational diabetes and collaborate on a State Plan Amendment to expand covered services under Medicaid.
• Home Visiting Program Expansion: The TMaH payment model will make home visiting sustainable by addressing funding gaps. KDHE’s strength-based approach improves outcomes in pregnancy, parenting, and early childhood health while TMaH funding expands reach and quality.