In January 2024, the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) launched two projects to support a set of states and territories to strengthen their healthcare workforce and improve maternal and child health (MCH). The Next Generation of the Health Care Workforce policy academy supported a cohort of states and territories in designing and implementing recruitment and retention strategies to ensure they have the health professionals they need in their state. The Improving Maternal and Child Health in Rural America learning collaborative supported nine states and territories with operationalizing recommendations from the publication, “Tackling the Maternal and Infant Health Crisis: A Governor’s Playbook.”
Recognizing the synergies and intersections between the two projects, the NGA Center hosted a joint convening with key staff from each state to discuss project outcomes, in addition to sharing best practices and discussing opportunities for NGA to help states continue advancing this work.
2024 Improving Maternal and Child Health in Rural America and Preparing the Next Generation of the Healthcare Workforce Convening
Officials from 23 states and territories traveled to Tempe, Arizona, December 9-11, 2024, to share their maternal and child health and healthcare workforce priorities. From Washington looking to increase access to care by expanding distressed hospital funds, to Utah aiming to address behavioral health workforce needs, or Pennsylvania researching ways to maintain and expand funding for their maternal and child health efforts, attendees demonstrated their commitment to improving population health and set the tone for conversations to come.
The convening began with state officials sharing introductory remarks; then, the group held sessions focused on improving maternal and child health outcomes, providing a forum for state staff and other policy experts to discuss innovative ways to achieve this, especially in rural areas.
All MCH plenary themes aligned with the three project tracks the state and territory teams were focusing on: strategic planning and collaboration, substance use disorder and behavioral health, and hospital systems and Medicaid elections. Policy experts from Kansas’s Department of Health conveyed their experiences in developing strategic plans, implementing these plans and collaboration challenges to kick off day one. Next, the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs (AMCHP) led state and territory teams in a workshop where participants began to consider the future of their MCH work and how to maintain the progress they had made through changes in leadership.
Concurrent breakout sessions then highlighted the 2024 March of Dimes Report Card, which brought attention to coordinated maternal mental health care improvement needs and introduced effective perinatal workforce expansion Medicaid elections, as well as ways to modernize data to better measure and address maternal and child health issues. Day one concluded with a discussion focused on opportunities for states and territories to strengthen behavioral health for pregnant and parenting women with speakers from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Mosaic Group, and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
On the second day, state and territory leaders learned about the intersection between healthcare workforce and improving maternal and child health outcomes. Beginning with a rural hospital-focused plenary, policy excerpts from the National Rural Health Association (NRHA), Deloitte, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) dove into discussions around the Rural Maternity and Obstetrics Management Strategies (RMOMs) program, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Transforming Maternal Health (TMaH) Model, and creative 1115 waiver approaches that states and territories could use to invest in rural hospital systems and reinforce preventive and acute care infrastructure. State and territory officials engaged in afternoon plenaries focused on state strategies to invest in preventive care, including examples from Oregon and a partnership between Gilead and the University of Arizona. Attendees learned about a new Manatt resource to leverage Medicaid to invest in health-related social needs. Attendees also engaged in a roundtable to discuss cost and coverage issues for the maternal and child health workforce. Attendees also engaged in a roundtable to discuss cost and coverage issues for the maternal and child health workforce.
State and territory officials engaged in discussions on strategic healthcare workforce planning and coordination on the third and final day of the meeting. Policy Academy teams had an opportunity to reflect on their achievements and to action plan for future steps. Policy experts from KFF (a health policy research, polling and journalism organization), PHI (a direct care workforce research and advocacy organization), and the Colorado Governor’s Office spoke about the direct care workforce landscape and strategies for states to address shortages. Next, attendees heard from Veritas Health Solutions about the three interstate licensure compacts related to behavioral health: the Counseling Compact, the Psychology Interjurisdictional Compact (PSYPACT) and the Social Work Licensure Compact. NGA recently published a brief comparing these three licensure compacts, which allow professionals to more easily practice in multiple states. The final plenary of the meeting focused on employer and industry engagement in healthcare workforce, showcasing Utah’s work to build out an entry-level behavioral health role.
Future Work
The NGA Center will continue to support states and territories in their work to improve MCH outcomes and strengthen the healthcare workforce through technical assistance, convenings and sharing resources. The NGA Center also facilitates a Healthcare Workforce Knowledge Exchange Network to support states and territories through peer learning and sharing information on healthcare workforce research, policy developments, and best practices. Please contact Anna Heard (AHeard@nga.org) if your state or territory is interested in joining, or Asia Riviere (ARiviere@nga.org) for support around improving state and territory MCH outcomes.
