OHA and member maternity hospitals in Ohio are collaborating with the Ohio Department of Health and other state and national organizations to lead statewide strategies to improve maternal health in the state. All Ohio hospitals with licensed maternity services have been partnering with OHA in our maternal and infant health work.

OHA’s Maternal Health Steering Committee is supporting hospital and health system efforts to improve infant and maternal health outcomes. Ohio’s review of maternal health outcomes reported more than 185 women in the state died from pregnancy-related complications over the nine years studied. Of those deaths, 56% were classified as preventable. The leading causes were cardiovascular and coronary conditions, and infections.

OHA Maternal Health Initiative

OHA’s maternal health initiative is focused on improving maternal health outcomes across Ohio. Maternal health is identified as the health of women during pregnancy, childbirth and the postnatal period.

OHA established a Maternal Health Steering Committee in 2019 to:

• Recommend clinical initiatives for improving maternal health outcomes across Ohio
• Develop strategies for adoption of priority initiatives
• Define performance measures, goals and targets for each priority initiative
• Advise OHA staff on policies and strategies that support member organizations.

One of the goals identified by the committee is to eliminate racial inequities in maternal health outcomes.

Our Partners: Ohio Department of Health, The Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health, Ohio Council to Advance Maternal Health, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and others.

Ohio AIM Program

OHA and the Ohio Department of Health are leading the statewide implementation of a national quality improvement program organized by The Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health, or AIM, to advance effective practices and outcomes for maternal health in Ohio.

AIM is led by the Council on Patient Safety in Women’s Health Care, which has a vision to ensure safe and equitable health care for every woman. AIM participation expands access to evidence-driven approaches to improve maternal safety and outcomes, with the goal of eliminating preventable maternal mortality and severe morbidity nationwide.

Severe Maternal Health Hypertension

Ohio’s first AIM initiative will focus on improving hospital staff readiness, recognition of and response to severe hypertension in pregnancy, which Ohio’s most recent PAMR (summarizing data from 2008-2016) reported to be preventable in 85% of maternal deaths. All Ohio hospitals with licensed maternity services will be invited to participate in the initiative. Participating hospitals will have access to national experts and resources, as well as statewide and national data benchmarking.

Recent Updates & News – State & National Programs

In addition to OHA’s efforts there are other state and national programs focused on maternal health strategies. Here are some of those initiatives:

• OHA partners with Sepsis Alliance to promote National Maternal Sepsis Awareness Week (May 9 – 12).
• American Hospital Association’s Maternal and Child Health
• National Institutes of Health launched IMPROVE, Implementing a Maternal Health and Pregnancy Outcomes Vision for Everyone, initiative in 2020. Click here to learn more.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s “Hear Her” campaign.

News & Updates

• Sept. 2020: OHA’s statewide initiative to reduce sepsis mortality received recognition in the Ohio Department of Health’s Ohio Pregnancy-Associated Mortality Review, or PAMR, which covered special topics report on pregnancy-related deaths due to sepsis. The PAMR was established to identify and review pregnancy-associated deaths with the goal of developing interventions to reduce maternal mortality.