Jackson, Miss. — The Mississippi State Department of Health is spearheading the effort to create a new OB (Obstetrics) System of Care that will save lives and provide the proper level of care for pregnant women and their babies.

 

The latest report by the Mississippi Maternal Mortality Review Committee determined that 83% of maternal deaths it reviewed were preventable. The maternal mortality rate is 23.2 per 100,000 live births, with a national rate of 18.6 per 100,000 live births.

 

The most current Mississippi Infant Mortality Report showed the infant mortality rate at 9.2 per 1,000 births in the state, compared to 5.6 per 1,000 births nationally.

 

“The problem is not physicians, nurses, hospitals, EMS quality, healthcare quality in Mississippi or Medicaid,” said State Health Officer and MSDH Executive DirectorDr. Dan Edney. “The problem is the system. There has not been a guiding force to get mothers to the right hospital – not necessarily the closest. Moms at high-risk are having problems being transferred from one facility to another. I believe with coordination, collaboration and cooperation, we can reduce this unacceptable mortality rate.”

 

The MSDH recently brought together partners from around the state, including doctors, nurses, hospitals, emergency medicine, EMS, the Division of Medicaid, managed care organizations and other providers to discuss ways forward in developing a coordinated system of care.

 

“This will not be a top-down approach,” said Edney. “We need input and buy-in from both public and private sector partners to determine how this will work and be sustainable long term. The only thing set in stone is that we must do this. How we do it is up to us as a coordinated team.”

 

Some of the factors involved in the deaths are linked to rural travel times, less than adequate prenatal care, lack of transparency with birthing programs “locate” data, EMS difficulties, NICU availability, lack of regional perinatal systems and less than adequate transfer systems.

 

The proposed OB System of Care will create increased prenatal care opportunities, perinatal regionalization, maternal and neonatal levels of care designation, facilitated and expedited transfers to appropriate levels of care, the opportunity to activate with a 911 call, an opportunity to incorporate the state’s Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health safety initiative work, and performance improvement data.

 

Once initiated, this would be the fourth System of Care in the state, joining the ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction System of Care for heart attacks, the Stroke System of Care and the Trauma Care system. Mississippi is the only state in the United States with three systems of care, and now four.