ATLANTA — The Centers for Disease Control reported an alarming increase in the U.S. maternal mortality rate earlier this year, with Georgia being among the worst states in the country.
For years, 11Alive has reported on the maternal mortality crisis in Georgia. From 2018 to 2021, there were about 33 deaths per 100,000 live births reported, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Research also shows Black women in the U.S. are about three times more likely to die during and after childbirth than white women.
On Wednesday, the Biden administration announced its latest health care initiative that would require hospital systems to meet certain maternal health care standards in order to remain in Medicare and Medicaid.
Dr. Sujatha Reddy, who is an OB-GYN in Atlanta, said the proposal is a way of strong-arming hospitals into doing more for maternal health care.
“They’re threatening being kicked off of Medicaid and Medicare, which is crucial. It’s estimated that 40% of Americans are on Medicaid or Medicare together if you add them up, so it’s not feasible that a hospital would want to be kicked off the program," Reddy said.
While some could argue this announcement from the Biden administration may be politically motivated, as the topic of maternal health care has a history of being popular among democrats, Reddy said any attention on the topic is good attention.
“Women’s health is absolutely an issue in this election, and I think in bringing this out now – it may be partly election politics but for me I think we need to focus on the fact of why minority women are dying during childbirth," Reddy explained.
The American Hospital Association's Senior Vice President, Ashley Thompson, released a response just hours after the proposal was announced:
"The AHA fully shares CMS’ goals of improving maternal health outcomes and reducing inequities in maternal care. However, we are deeply concerned by CMS’ continued and excessive use of Conditions of Participation to drive its policy agenda. We believe a less punitive and more collaborative and flexible approach is far superior. We will carefully review CMS’ proposals to determine whether they are feasible, sufficiently flexible for the wide variety of hospitals to which they would apply and do not inadvertently exacerbate maternal care access challenges."
Under the proposal, safety standards would be set for obstetric services at all hospitals and would impact staffing, training, and the various protocols pertaining to obstetric patients.