For Policymakers:
The following resources provide indepth information on:
- the critical role maternity care plays in our nation's health care system
- the current state of maternity care in the United States
- what changes are needed to improve care for women and babies
- midwifery's role in providing evidenced-based, hign quality, cost effective, accessible care that has excellent health outcomes for mothers and infants.
- the importance of providing choice of providers and birth settings to expectant families
We hope these resources will provide information helpful to shaping maternity care health policy and recognizing CPMs as high quality cost effective providers in our US health care system.
For more information contact info@mamacampaign.
Evidence-Based Maternity Care: What It Is and What It Can Achieve
Milbank Memorial Foundation, Childbirth Connection, Reforming States Group
http://childbirthconnection.org/pdfs/evidence-based-maternity-care.pdf
- Milbank Memorial Fund is a foundation that works to improve health by helping decision makers in the public and private sectors acquire and use the best available evidence to inform health policy. The Fund has worked on significant health policy issues since 1905.
- Childbirth Connection, founded in 1918, is a national not-for-profit organization that works to improve the quality of maternity care through research, education, advocacy and policy.
- The Reforming States Group, organized in 1992, is a voluntary association of leaders in health policy from all fifty states, Canada, England, Scotland and Australia.
Health Care Reform Priorities for High Quality, High Value Maternity Care: An Essential Component of Women’s Health Care Across the Life Span
Childbirth Connection (2009)
http://childbirthconnection.org/pdfs/maternity-care-in-health-care-reform.pdf
Direct-Entry Midwifery Legal Status in United States
State-by-state chart detailing current status of Certified Professional Midwives, Midwives Alliance of North America (April 2009) http://mana.org/statechart.html
Outcome of planned home and planned hospital births in low risk pregnancies: prospective study in midwifery practices in the Netherlands
British Medical Journal (2009)
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/313/7068/1309
Issue Brief: Certified Professional Midwives in the United States
North American Registry of Midwives, Midwifery Education Accreditation Council, National Association of Certified Professional Midwives, Midwives Alliance of North America (2008)
http://mana.org/pdfs/CPMIssueBrief.pdf
Midwifery Licensure and Discipline Program in Washington State: Economic Costs and Benefits Health Management Associates (2007)
http://www.washingtonmidwives.org/assets/Midwifery_Cost_Study_10-31-07.pdf
Outcomes of Planned Home Births with Certified Professional Midwives: Large Prospective Study in North America
British Medical Journal (2005)
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/bmj;330/7505/1416
Fact Sheet on Planned Home Births Study in British Medical Journal
Citizens for Midwifery (2005)
Increasing Access to Out-of-Hospital Maternity Care Services through State-Regulated, Nationally-Certified Direct-Entry Midwives
American Public Health Association, Resolution Adopted by the Governing Council (2001)
http://apha.org/legislative/policy/01_policy.pdf
The Future of Midwifery
Pew Health Professions Commission and University of California, San Francisco Center for Health Professions (1999)
http://www.futurehealth.ucsf.edu/pdf_files/midwifry.pdf
Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiative
Coalition for the Improvement of Maternity Services (1996)
Evidence Basis for the Ten Steps of Mother-Friendly Care in the Journal of Perinatal Education, 2007, Issue 16, a Special Supplement
The result of a 2 year research project by a team of maternity care experts, this important work reviews 15 years worth of scientific studies which found that the evidence supports complying with each aspect of the ten steps of Mother-Friendly Care.
Statements to the Obama Transition Team:
The following statements by the Midwives Alliance of North America, Citizens for Midwifery, and the National Association of Certified Professional Midwives were created for and submitted to the Obama Transition Team in January 2009.
Citizens for Midwifery (2009)
Midwives Alliance of North America (2009)
http://mana.org/pdfs/MANARecsToObamaHealthTeamJan09.pdf
National Association of Certified Professional Midwives (2009)
http://www.nacpm.org/documents/NACPM-recommendations.pdf