The United States is one of the most technologically advanced healthcare systems in the world, yet we have a maternal mortality rate significantly higher than comparable countries. In fact, the U.S. has one of the worst maternal mortality rates of the developed world (The Lancet, 2015). Research shows over 60% of these pregnancy-related deaths are considered preventable (CDC Vital Signs).
For over 20 years, PeriGen has created innovative software solutions to support clinicians in perinatal care in the hospital setting. Currently, thousands of health professionals are using PeriGen software to help protect moms and babies in an effort to reduce the staggering maternal mortality and morbidity rates in the United States.
Recently, national organizations are taking notice of the need to address maternal morbidity and mortality through innovation. The Department of Health and Human Services (2020) has announced an initiative to improve maternal health which included this vision:
“As part of the Administrations broader efforts to improve health in America, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is announcing its vision for ensuring the U.S. is one of the safest countries in the world for women to give birth.”
The HHS Action Plan outlined the following:
The Problem:
- 658 women died in the U.S. in 2018 as a result of pregnancy or its complications
- More than 25,000 cases of severe maternal morbidity occurred in 2017
- Maternal mortality in the U.S. is higher than most other developed and high-income countries
HHS Action Plan Targets:
- Reduce the maternal mortality rate by 50 percent in 5 years
- Reduce the low-risk cesarean delivery rate by 25 percent in 5 years
- Achieve blood pressure control in 80 percent of women of reproductive age with hypertension in 5 years
HHS Action Plan Goals:
- Achieve healthy outcomes for all women of reproductive age
- Achieve healthy pregnancies and births
- Achieve healthy futures
- Improve data and bolster research
Overall Vision: Make the United States one of the safest countries in the world for women to give birth.
PeriGen shares this vision. In fact, PeriGen’s technology is being used across health systems to help perinatal clinicians enhance clinical efficiency, promote timely intervention, and standardize care, and ultimately to protect more moms and babies during childbirth.
Please join PeriGen and the Department of Health and Human Services to make the United States one of the safest countries in the world to give birth.
Read the full Department of Health and Human Services Action Plan to Improve Maternal Health in America at : https://aspe.hhs.gov/system/files/aspe-files/264076/healthy-women-healthy-pregnancies-healthy-future-action-plan_0.pdf
Sources:
“Global, regional, and national levels of maternal mortality, 1990–2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015,” The Lancet.
Hoyert, D. L., & Miniño, A. M. (2020). Maternal mortality in the United States: changes in coding, publication, and data release, 2018. 4 Centers for disease Control and Prevention. (ND).
Centers for disease Control and Prevention. (ND). Pregnancy-related deaths. Retrieved on February 2021 from https://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/maternal-deaths/index.html.
