{"id":7192,"date":"2025-01-22T14:55:42","date_gmt":"2025-01-22T20:55:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/healthfund.org\/a\/?p=7192"},"modified":"2025-01-24T12:57:46","modified_gmt":"2025-01-24T18:57:46","slug":"tmah-maternal-health-grant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/healthfund.org\/a\/tmah-maternal-health-grant\/","title":{"rendered":"Kansas wins big with maternal health care grant"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Earlier this month, Kansas was awarded a $17-million, 10-year grant to participate in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services\u2019 Transforming Maternal Health (TMaH) Model<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This model has the potential to revolutionize the way maternal health care is provided in Kansas \u2014 a necessary action at a time when more than 45% of Kansas counties qualify as maternal health care deserts<\/a>. Many women must travel more than 30 minutes \u2014 and sometimes 60 minutes \u2014 to reach their nearest birthing hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We applaud Gov. Laura Kelly, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the state Medicaid agency for their leadership and for successfully securing this substantial grant that will prioritize the health and wellness of Kansas mothers and families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The United Methodist Health Ministry Fund prioritizes maternal health care in its grantmaking and provided funding support to the state of Kansas to assist in its application for this opportunity<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s critical we find ways to expand access to maternal health care in Kansas,\u201d said David Jordan, Health Fund president. \u201cMothers across the state \u2014 and especially in our rural communities where services are disappearing \u2014 need and deserve this. The TMaH model will provide the funding and support necessary to make substantial steps forward in addressing this issue so that Kansas can create sustainable solutions to improve the lives of mothers, babies and families.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The TMaH model focuses on improving maternal health care for people enrolled in Medicaid and the Children\u2019s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The goal is to reduce disparities in access and treatment, improve birth outcomes and experiences for mothers and their newborns, and reduce overall program expenditures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The model\u2019s initiatives focuses on three main pillars<\/a>:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

1. Access to care, infrastructure and workforce capacity<\/strong>
This includes addressing gaps in maternal care by improving access to valuable resources like midwives, doulas and community health workers. These care team members can reduce the number of c-sections for low-risk pregnancies, shorten labor time, lower the use of pain medication during birth and lower the rates of postpartum anxiety and depression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Quality improvement and safety<\/strong>
This includes implementing quality initiatives and protocols to make childbirth safer while improving the mother and baby\u2019s overall experience. When implemented together consistently, these protocols have been shown to improve health outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Whole-person care and delivery<\/strong>
This includes working with mothers to develop a unique birth plan that will support their physical, social and mental health needs. This may even include remote monitoring of conditions like hypertension and diabetes to reduce the burden of traveling to and from a doctor\u2019s office. It could also include connecting a mother with community organizations or a community health worker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of the participation in the model, Kansas will also be required to develop and implement a health equity plan that addresses disparities among underserved populations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are all significant steps in the right direction, as we work to find solutions that will improve access to care for our state\u2019s mothers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis was a monumental win for maternal health care in our state,” Jordan said. \u201cThanks to this funding, the state will be able to expand its workforce and improve the health of mothers and children. We look forward to seeing the impact this will make throughout Kansas.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier this month, Kansas was awarded a $17-million, 10-year grant to participate in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services\u2019 Transforming Maternal Health (TMaH) Model. This model has the potential to revolutionize the way maternal health care is provided in Kansas \u2014 a necessary action at a time when more than 45% of Kansas counties …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":152,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-news","category-early-childhood-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthfund.org\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthfund.org\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthfund.org\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthfund.org\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthfund.org\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7192"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/healthfund.org\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7212,"href":"https:\/\/healthfund.org\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7192\/revisions\/7212"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthfund.org\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthfund.org\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthfund.org\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthfund.org\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}