Primary Submission Category: Health equity
Reducing Health Inequities for Maternal Health Underserved Patients
Authors: Jenny Bernard Jazmin Cascante Victor Carrillo Chinwe Ogedegbe
Presenting Author: Jenny Bernard*
This project aims to identify, address, and reduce racial inequities and disparities for low-income marginalized groups. In this session, a multidisciplinary team will discuss a holistic and multi-faceted approach that has improved health outcomes for high-risk maternal health patients. The NJ department of health (NJDOH) developed a statewide initiative to help hospitals improve outcomes; These focused on a total of 9 metrics that were historically found to be critical issues. The NJDOH further developed an incentive program to reward hospitals with outstanding performance; in our network, all hospitals met 100% of the metrics using our evidence-based “First Thirty” model. The model leveraged the integrated existing EMR platform to identify high-risk patients, conduct a face-to-face needs assessment, develop an individualized plan of care, and address all needs with a specific focus on SDH, as well as a sustainability plan. The team included a clinical nurse practitioner, a director of community health, an ED physician, a clinical navigator, and an SVP for quality improvement. This session will describe their role in creating an equitable model that prevents patients from being missed or neglected. A detailed description of the metrics aligned with the interventions that resulted in the program’s success will also be presented. Finally, the team will explain how this program can be duplicated at any acute care facility utilizing existing resources.