The state’s non-profit health plans and agency partners expand efforts to
improve health outcomes for mothers and babies
No other developed nation has a higher maternal mortality rate than the U.S. and a look behind these numbers shows even worse outcomes for Black families. Black women are about three times more likely to die of pregnancy related complications than white women and Black infants are more than twice as likely to die compared to white infants. The Minnesota Council of Health Plans and our members are working together to tackle these disparities, by advocating for systems change at the legislature, helping grow the workforce, centering patients to improve the birthing experience, developing educational initiatives, and partnering with communities. As nonprofit health plans, resources are also invested back into local communities as part of their nonprofit mission to support access to high-quality care.
The Council and member plans are also working collaboratively on the Healthy Start Performance Improvement Project, which began in the spring of 2021. The project focuses on ensuring a “healthy start” for Minnesota children by concentrating on improving services provided to pregnant women and infants, with a focus on reducing racial and ethnic disparities. Interventions will include working with a variety of partners to improve access and coordination of resources to help mothers and children get the right care at the right time in the right setting.
The Minnesota Council of Health Plans and our non-profit members are striving to improve maternal health outcomes. Doulas, birth navigators, and midwives serve an important role in making meaningful, needed progress. From spreading awareness of these services to scholarships to grow the doula workforce, learn more about the investment in their communities Minnesota’s non-profit health plans are making to improve outcomes for families:
- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota – Growing the BIPOC doula workforce to improve maternal health outcomes by partnering with Everyday Miracles to provide scholarships for BIPOC doulas.
- HealthPartners – Educating patients and providers about the availability and importance of doula care to increase uptake of doula services and awareness of how doulas work with medical care teams.
- Hennepin Health – With a goal of increasing access to doula services, Hennepin Health is working directly with doula providers to create guidance that supports new doulas through required registration processes. Hennepin Health has also partnered with the Hennepin Healthcare System’s Pediatric Mobile Health Clinic to support families in keeping up with their children’s well child checks and vaccine schedules by bringing the clinic to them.
- Medica – Investing in the “doula dads” program to support families through the birthing process.
- Sanford – Improving the birthing experience and centering patient wishes through the use of birth navigators, doulas and midwives in the hospital.
- UCare – Partnering with Hennepin Healthcare to improve UCare member perinatal outcomes and reduce health disparities with inpatient doula care.
Finally, Minnesota has been chosen – in an announcement made by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) – to participate in the Transforming Maternal Health Model (TMaH) designed to focus exclusively on improving maternal health care for people enrolled in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The Council wrote a letter with the application (see below) to demonstrate our strong support for improving outcomes. Funding and resources from the designation will support the development of a whole-person approach to pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum care that address the physical, mental health, and social needs experienced during pregnancy. The goal is to reduce disparities in access and treatment to improve outcomes and experiences for mothers and their newborns.
The maternal mortality rate and the disparities within have long frustrated those working to improve health outcomes. The unprecedented collaboration between the Council, our members, providers, and state and federal agencies, is positioning Minnesota to make meaningful, needed progress to improve outcomes for mothers and babies.
Nathan Chomilo, MD FAAP FACP, Medicaid Medical Director
Health Care Administration
Minnesota Department of Human Services
540 Cedar St
P.O. Box 64987
Saint Paul, Minnesota, 55164
Dear Dr. Chomilo and the CMS Innovation Center,
The Minnesota Council of Health Plans is writing in support of the application that the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) is submitting for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Innovation Center (CMMI) Transforming Maternal Health (TMaH) Model.
DHS functions as Minnesota’s Medicaid agency and provides essential services to Minnesota’s mothers, children and families. In Minnesota, Medicaid covers approximately 40 percent of all births and 8 in 10 births to mothers who identify as Black and 9 in 10 births to mothers who identify as Native American/American Indian.
DHS’ participation in the TMaH model will help the State of Minnesota continue its significant strides to transform our maternal health system, building on recent historic investments including increases in doula reimbursement and decreases in barriers for doulas to enroll in Medicaid, extension of Medicaid for 12 months postpartum and the groundbreaking Dignity in Pregnancy and Childbirth Act and the Healthy Start Act.
The Minnesota Council of Health Plans is an association of nonprofit health plans whose mission is to get Minnesotans the affordable, equitable and quality-based care they need today and in the future. The State of Minnesota is unique in that as of January 1, 2025, the state Medicaid agency will only contract with non-profit managed care organizations (MCOs) to deliver services to its public program enrollees. Five of those contracted MCOs are members of the Council including Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota, HealthPartners, Hennepin Health, Medica and UCare. Our final member, Sanford Health, is a provider owned health plan with a strong position in the upper Midwest delivering health coverage that is part of their integrated system of care. With all of our members being nonprofit health plans, they are investing resources back into their local communities and collectively supporting more than 4.6 million Minnesotans with broad access to high-quality care.
We are excited about the ways the TMaH model can align with our maternal health priorities including its focus on a whole person approach to pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum care through the lens of health systems, providers and community as collaborators. The Council works with a variety of stakeholders to promote policies and processes to make healthcare more effective and we feel our work aligns well with the model’s goals of reducing overall program expenditures and disparities in the access and delivery of care. Finally, our mission to promote high-quality care includes a focus on maternal health care services for pregnant and postpartum mothers to improve outcomes and the experiences of mothers and newborns.
We have greatly appreciated DHS’ community-centered approach to applying for this model and the various touchpoints the Department has provided to update partners on the submission process. We acknowledge that, as this process has been community-driven, the details continue to evolve as the Department receives additional input from all of its partners. We encourage the Department to continue to proactively engage managed care organizations as a key partner in the model. MCOs can bring important insight and technical expertise into these discussions to help ensure the initiatives are operationalized effectively to maximize impact. We urge the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Innovation Center to select Minnesota as one of the states to participate in TMaH and are thrilled about the opportunity to further center communities, advance health equity in maternal and child outcomes, improve the experience for mothers, birthing persons, their newborns, and families and enhance our stewardship of Minnesota’s Medicaid program.
Sincerely,
Lucas Nesse
President and CEO, Minnesota Council of Health Plans