Improving Maternal Health: A Journey of Conversation, Collaboration, and Action

Achieving maternal health equity requires collective action, where dialogues among thought leaders serve as a powerful catalyst for ideas, collaboration, and progress. This is the approach we're adopting to attain our goal for maternal health: ensuring joyful, safe, and supported pregnancies for Black women.

Collaborating with Deloitte

We teamed up with Deloitte Consulting LLP’s Public Health Transformation team and the Deloitte Health Equity Institute (“Deloitte”) to answer the key questions: where are there gaps and critical points of failure in the maternal health journey, and what solutions do we need to improve maternal health for Black women? We conducted research to piece together the Black maternal health journey – layering in clinical care, lived experience, and “bright spots” to reveal not only what was supposed to happen but also the reality, highlighting gaps and programs bridging the gaps.?

Ten months later, USofCare and Deloitte were ready for the next step.

Black Maternal Health Convenings

On December 5, 2023, 37 maternal health care thought leaders joined USofCare and Deloitte in Black Maternal Health Convenings in McLean, VA and Atlanta, GA with a shared goal: collectively identify solutions and cross-sector action steps to address critical points of failure in the Black maternal health care experience within five years. Participants represented various sectors – Black women with lived experience, community-based organizations, government administrators, advocacy groups, health systems, health tech, private sector corporations, and more – and traveled from all over the U.S. to share their expertise.

Our big question: what are solutions that can be implemented within five years to address the maternal health gaps identified? Those gaps identified were:

1. Addressing historical racism embedded in medical education systems
2. Gaps in state and federal policies and programmatic features
3. Limited clinical-community care linkages and closed-loop referral mechanism to address social determinants of health

The group brainstormed solutions for the next five years – generating a melting pot of ideas, expertise, and passion for change. (More to come on these solutions!)?

The day fostered new connections and mapped an exciting path forward, including:

• Publishing a summary product featuring solutions and action steps from the Black Maternal Health Convening
• Continuing to bring together maternal health thought leaders to foster cross-sector collaboration
• Identifying action steps to address gaps in the Black maternal health journey
• Building on existing partnerships and creating new ones to move action steps forward

Driving Towards Action

Our commitment to improving equitable maternal care is unwavering. In the coming months, USofCare will host more stakeholder discussions, and we welcome your input and expertise to join us and influence our shared path forward.