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IMI Explores Innovative Practices in Perinatal & Child Health in Medicaid

IMI Explores Innovative Practices in Perinatal & Child Health in Medicaid

Washington, DC – The Institute for Medicaid Innovation (IMI), a non-profit, nonpartisan research organization, has launched a new initiative exploring how Medicaid health plans are implementing perinatal/child health initiatives that complement those provided through essential benefits. The project will look at how health plans are achieving this work through partnering with community-based organizations, with a focus on disparities and inequities among communities of color.

Poor maternal infant health outcomes are a critical public health issue that affects reproductive health and infant developmental outcomes, early childhood school readiness, and the well-being of pregnant and postpartum individuals and their families. While providers and communities harness strategies to tackle racial and ethnic disparities, the call to integrate community-centered models of care to better serve the Medicaid population has been in place for years but has been vastly underutilized.

With this new initiative, IMI will collect best practices through a request for information (RFI) from multiple sources across the nation to improve Medicaid prenatal, perinatal, neonatal, 12-month postpartum/infant outcomes. The research will be published in a report of best and emerging practices that can be used to inform future strategic investments. The research can also be used as a basis for policies and procedures that Medicaid health plans can use as a guide when scaling these interventions to meet community, state, or national needs. The RFI is open for submissions from October 11 until November 18, 2022. Medicaid health plans are encouraged to submit responses and may include partner organizations in their submission.

To support the project, IMI has convened a national advisory committee (NAC) of esteemed experts in perinatal and child health, health equity, and Medicaid policy to provide guidance and advise the research team throughout the project. The NAC will review blinded submissions to identify submissions for inclusion in the report. Our NAC members are:

  • Lindsey Angelats, DrPH
  • Danielle Brooks, JD
  • Françoise Culley-Trotman, Esq.
  • Anne Ekedahl (De Biasi), MHA
  • Carrie Hanlon, MA
  • Sandra Hassink, MD, MS, FAAP
  • Kay Johnson, MPH, MEd
  • Sarah Hall Mann, JD
  • Pooja Mittal, MD 
  • Cynthia Osborne, PhD
  • Andrea Palmer, MBA, MPA
  • Stephanie Scarmo, PhD, MPH
  • Nicole Truhe, MPA
  • Johanna Vidal-Phelan, MD, MBA, FAAP, CHIE

This work is supported by a grant from the Pritzker Children’s Initiative.

About the Institute for Medicaid Innovation

The Institute for Medicaid Innovation (IMI) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit, nonpartisan research and policy organization that provides independent, nonpartisan information and analysis to inform Medicaid policy and improve the health of the nation.