Preventing Maternal Death Act

To reduce the disparities among minority women policy changes have been made. Federal law enacted the Preventing Maternal Death Act providing states with grants to explore, examine and investigate pregnancy related deaths for up to one year after the birth of a child. Also, The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists created new guidelines in treating cardiovascular disease in pregnant women. In 2014 Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health (AIM) was developed by the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology to collaborate with partners of the states and hospitals to gather information on safety measures being taken to improve maternal health outcomes, allowing partners to assess and track program progress. In the study conducted by Nichols and Cohen, two out of the various programs that California implemented were the Black Infant Health Program (BIH) and increasing the states income eligibility for pregnant women to 200% of the federal poverty level. With the implementation of these programs, mortality rates decreased from 22.1% to 8.3% in the best practices toolkit, a program developed for hemorrhage and high blood pressure during pregnancy. Altogether, California’s maternal mortality rate decreased by above 50% between 2006 and 2018. To prevent negative pregnancy outcomes in women of color, California used federal funds to develop programs that focused on African American mothers and the health determinants that are influenced by social and structural factors. The Black Infant Health Program provided support to African American women through group trainings, entailing of stress reduction, life skills development, and building social support. Nearly half of the babies born in the United States are insured under Medicaid which covers the child through the first year of life. However, in most states, Medicaid provides coverage for the mother until 60 days postpartum, after which the mother must meet the federal poverty level to be eligible for coverage. This exposes the mother to various risks that can adversely affect her health. Expanding Medicaid access would mitigate the maternal healthcare barriers that affect low socioeconomic minority women.