Comprehensive Maternity Care Workgroup

The United States has the highest rate of maternal mortality among wealthy nations. Moreover, women of color are more likely than white women to die from complications of childbirth, and access to maternity care is decreasing as maternity care deserts – counties with limited or no maternity care – become increasingly common. Employers pay for more than half of the births in the U.S. and can play a significant role in impacting maternal and infant health outcomes on behalf of workers and their family members.

PBGH’s Comprehensive Maternity Care Workgroup, launched in summer 2022 and co-chaired by Qualcomm Incorporated and Walmart, brings together employers and public purchasers to achieve high-quality, affordable and equitable health care for mothers and babies.

The workgroup, in partnership with other stakeholders and subject-matter experts, has developed tools to advance that goal, including a shared standard to define Comprehensive Maternity Care, a purchaser Priority Maternity Measure Set to ensure accountability and transparency and the PBGH Comprehensive Maternity Care Common Purchasing Agreement, which provides benefit design and purchasing recommendations for employers and public purchasers, health plans and providers. These tools are intended to help ensure public and private purchasers are purchasing accessible, high quality and equitable maternal care for their workers and family members.

For questions regarding PBGH’s maternal health and birth equity work or opportunities to partner, please contact Randa Deaton at rdeaton@pbgh.org.