The University of Maryland, Baltimore County is a partner on a new grant to improve the quality of maternal health care across the state of Maryland. The 5-year (2019 - 2024), $10.3 million award from the US Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, will fund the creation of the Maryland Maternal Health Innovation Program. Johns Hopkins University will lead the team which includes the Maryland Department of Health and the Maryland Patient Safety Center, in addition to the University of Maryland Baltimore County.
The Maryland Maternal Health Innovation Program will implement several statewide initiates with an overall goal to eliminate preventable maternal deaths and severe pregnancy complications in Maryland. To improve the quality of maternal health care, the program will work to strengthen hospital-based quality improvement efforts and train providers on early recognition of warning signs for severe complications and reduction of implicit bias. In addition, the project will develop a perinatal telemedicine program to quickly connect experts in obstetric specialties with community and rural hospitals throughout the state. To address disparities in maternal health, the program will partner with home visiting programs across the state to increase women’s knowledge and access to care for maternal complications. The project will also develop a state-wide dashboard to better disseminate maternal health statistics and improve evidence-based decision making. The work will be coordinated through the establishment of the Maryland Maternal Health Task Force whose members will include officials from state governments and agencies, as well as professional organizations, providers, payers, patient advocacy groups, community organizations.
Dr. Jennifer Callaghan-Koru and Dr. Gunes Koru are the lead investigators from the University of Maryland, Baltimore-County. Dr. Callaghan-Koru, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Health Administration and Policy, is a public health researcher whose work leverages implementation science to improve healthcare and outcomes for mothers and children. She previously received funding from the National Institutes of Health to study factors that determine successful implementation of evidence-based practices in obstetric care. Dr. Koru is a Professor in the Department of Information Systems, who conducts interdisciplinary and applied research at the intersection of health services and informatics, including health information privacy, home healthcare, and health data quality. He previously received funding from the Agency of Healthcare Research and Quality and the Maryland Department of Health.