Care2 Quality Improvement Project Designed to Improve Maternal and Infant Health
Care2 is a quality improvement project (QIP) designed to improve maternal and infant health during the interconception period. Care2 builds on the quality improvement science established by the IMPLICIT Network1, and is modified to meet the priorities and treatment needs of Ohio families.
The Ohio Infant Mortality Annual Report reveals Ohio’s infant mortality rate is significantly higher than the national average. In 2023, the infant mortality rate in Ohio was 13.7 deaths/1,000 live births for Black infants and 7.1 deaths/1,000 live births for all races,2 in comparison to the 2022 infant mortality rate in the United States of 5.6 deaths/1,000 live births for all races.3 Data as far back as 2009 show no significant change in the infant mortality rate for Black infants in Ohio.
Risk factors among 2023 infant deaths in Ohio revealed:
- 40% of infants who died were conceived less than 18 months after a prior birth;
- 10% of mothers smoked during their first trimester of pregnancy; and
- 40% of infants who died were born to mothers who did not have first-trimester prenatal care.2
- Among women with Medicaid, 37% and 47% reported prepregnancy depression and anxiety, respectively, in 2021.4
The effect of these high-risk health behaviors on future pregnancies and limited access to care urges the need to provide medical care for women of childbearing age during the interconception period.
Care2 focuses on the following areas:
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Depression and Anxiety
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Tobacco Use and Vaping
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Family Planning and Multivitamin/Folic Acid Use
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Infant safe Sleep
Clinical Experts Include
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Dr. Kate Tobin
Assistant Professor, Clinical, Department of Medicine, The Ohio State University (OSU) College of Medicine; Associate Director of Clinical Informatics, OSU Division of General Internal Medicine; Clinical Informatics Lead, OSU Maternal-Infant Dyad Primary Care Practice. Dr. Tobin is a clinical informaticist and combined Internal Medicine and Pediatrics primary care physician with a passion for population health and improving maternal perinatal and postpartum care and infant health. She specializes in helping pregnant women with complicated pregnancies, pre-existing conditions, and postpartum health issues in the primary care setting concurrent with pediatric care for their babies.
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Dr. Amythest Gauthier
Assistant Professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine The Ohio State University, Wexner Medical Center. Dr. Gauthier specializes in general primary care and focuses on preventive medicine, mom and baby care, and managing chronic conditions.
Sponsors
Care 2 is sponsored by the Ohio Department of Medicaid (ODM), the Ohio Department of Children and Youth (ODCY), and administered by the Ohio Colleges of Medicine Government Resource Center (GRC), in partnership with Ohio Chapter - American Academy of Pediatrics (OhioAAP).
Citations:
- Family Medicine Education Consortium. (2016). IMPLICIT Interconception Care Toolkit. March of Dimes.
- Ohio Department of Children and Youth. (2023). 2023 infant mortality annual report.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2024, May 30). Infant mortality. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.
- Ohio Department of Children and Youth. (2021). 2021 OPAS key findings.