A focus on maternal health
The Connell School of Nursing has been awarded a two-year, $310,000 grant from the Commonwealth Fund to conduct a cost analysis of start-up and perinatal care delivery costs for community-based birthing centers, which are outside of traditional health care institutions.
Launching on June 15, the project, led by Associate Dean for Research and Integrated Science Diana M. Bowser, aims to support maternal health by identifying sustainable financing approaches and innovative investments to support birthing care outside the hospital as one means to address the nation’s maternal health crisis.
Connell School Associate Dean for Research and Integrated Science Diana Bowser (Photo by Caitlin Cunningham)
Birthing centers are usually free-standing, home-like health care facilities specializing in low-risk, natural childbirth using a midwifery-led, wellness-based model.
The United States has the highest maternal mortality rate among high-income nations, with nearly 19 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2023, according to the American Journal of Managed Care. Over 80 percent of these deaths are preventable, reports the journal, driven by inequities, lack of access to care, and cardiovascular conditions. Black women are disproportionately affected, with mortality rates over three times higher than white women.
“The U.S. health care system is not structured to support midwifery-led birth centers which often struggle financially since current reimbursement mechanisms often fail to cover all of the services provided,” said Bowser. “These centers provide high-touch, low-tech services that are culturally responsive and patient centered but which face internal and external cost and financing barriers that negatively impact their ability to deliver care. This research aims to better understand those factors so equity and maternal health care access can expand.”
The project staff includes Connell School faculty Associate Professor of the Practice Katharine Hutchinson, program director of Midwifery and Women’s Health; Associate Professor of the Practice Thamarah Crevecoeur; Senior Research Associate Priya Agarwal-Harding; and Research Associate Brielle Ruscitti. Additionally, Julie Mottl-Santiago, a certified nurse-midwife and an assistant professor at the Boston University School of Medicine, will serve on the team.
Once completed, the target audience for the research results will be delivery system leaders, funders and investors, and state and federal policy makers, according to Bowser.
The New York City-based Commonwealth Fund promotes high-performing, equitable health care systems that achieve better access, improved quality, and greater efficiency, particularly for society’s most vulnerable, including people of color, low incomes, and those who are uninsured.