State-based Perinatal Quality Collaboratives

State perinatal quality collaboratives (PQCs) are networks of perinatal care providers and public health professionals working to improve pregnancy outcomes for women and newborns by advancing evidence-based clinical practices and processes through continuous quality improvement. PQC member healthcare facilities identify care processes that need to be improved and use the best available methods to make changes and improve outcomes. State PQCs include key leaders in private, public, and academic health care settings with expertise in evidence-based obstetric and neonatal care and quality improvement. The purpose of this program is to enhance the capabilities of state PQCs to collect timely data to provide feedback to members to improve the quality of perinatal care in their respective states, including but not limited to reduction of maternal morbidity and mortality, improvements in the use of progesterone to prevent preterm birth, increase in appropriate use of antenatal corticosteroids for fetal lung maturity in the setting of anticipated preterm birth, improvements in care for infants impacted by neonatal abstinence syndrome, and reduction of medically unnecessary cesarean deliveries. Module A will fund states to support state PQC's in early stages of development to actively conduct perinatal quality improvement projects and disseminate data throughout the state, expand projects to include a broader range of neonatal and maternal health issues, and to increase the proportion of participating hospitals to make the collaborative more representative of the entire state. Module B will support a coordinating center for the National Network of Perinatal Quality Collaboratives. The National Network of Perinatal Quality Collaboratives (NNPQC), currently being developed (under CDC-RFA-OT13-1302), is a network of PQC's across the country that supports the development and enhances the ability of PQCs to make measurable improvements in statewide maternal and infant health care and health outcomes. Awardees of this module will coordinate NNPQC activities, including provision of technical assistance, formal mentoring, and capacity building for PQCs supported in Module A of this cooperative agreement. The coordinating center will also develop core leadership in the country to serve as a consultative resource for all state-based PQCs across the country. This funding opportunity will build on the work of CDC-RFA-DP14-1404, State-based Perinatal Quality Collaboratives, where competition was limited to State Health Departments or their Bona Fide Agents. Outcomes from that cooperative agreement included considerable success in building the capacity of the funded PQCs and statewide improvements in processes and outcomes of perinatal care.