Closing Gaps in Maternal Mental Healthcare
The Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health is a national think tank, nonprofit organization advancing policies that support a health care system that routinely detects and treats maternal mental health disorders for every mother, every time.
Suicide prevention is always important, but maternal suicide prevention is especially important to me. Twelve years ago, my sister died by suicide just three weeks after the birth of her first and only child. Like many new mothers, my sister was so excited for her first child.
Read MoreIn the last 30+ days, these are the articles and issues that caught my eye. I noticed a good dose of the hard to hear facts about mental health, and also articles about hope - how to solve for racism in health care, how telemedicine is finally getting its day (from payors, where the rubber meets the road), and hope for the Affordable Care Act. There is also an interesting new piece of research about circadian “misalignment” in shift workers, which could have interesting implications for mothers who may also be “misaligned” with circadian rhythms/sleep.
Read MoreWe are grateful to be sharing Kristina Dulaney’s story during this year’s suicide awareness week. Kristina was one of the reasons 2020 Mom and our partners knew we had to launch an annual national maternal suicide awareness week campaign.
Read MoreThe U.S. has the highest suicide rates among wealthy nations, according to a new report that looked at how health and care in the U.S. stacks up globally. In 2016, the suicide rate here was 13.9 suicide deaths per 100,000 people — while the U.K. had the lowest rate of the 11 high-income countries in the report, at 7.3 suicides per 100,000 people.
At the same time, another new report from the Well Being Trust highlights 4% of insurance payments went to mental health care in 2017 and that Americans continue to have to go out of network to find treatment.
Read MoreThe Federal agency, The Center for Disease Control (CDC) shared a new brief on Maternal Mortality Review (MMR) with updated 2008-2017 data on pregnancy-related deaths from 14 Maternal Mortality Review Committees (MMRCs). Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah voluntarily shared their data through the Maternal Mortality Review Information Application (MMRIA). MMRIA supports and standardizes record abstraction, documentation of committee decisions, and routine analyses.
Read MoreDepression is a horrific illness that affects as many as 10% of Americans at any one time. Depression is a brain disease that can cause confusion and distortions in thinking, as well as interference with basic physiologic functions, including: sleep, energy, appetite, motor function and more.
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