Despite efforts to improve, severe maternal morbidity (SMM) rates continue to rise and stark racial and ethnic inequities persist in Massachusetts. From 2011 to 2020, statewide SMM nearly doubled. During this 10-year period, Black non-Hispanic birthing people consistently demonstrated the highest SMM rates, with inequities increasing an average of 10.1 percent each year.
Morbidity data
Severe maternal morbidity in Massachusetts
Advancing SMM data collection
Much of what we know about SMM comes from analysis of Massachusetts Acute Care Hospital Discharge Data, collected by the state’s Center for Health Information and Analysis (CHIA). But there has traditionally been significant lag time between data collection and analysis.
The Betsy Lehman Center is leading an effort to get more timely, actionable data on maternal health into the hands of the care teams that need it. Beginning in 2023, a group of pilot hospitals began submitting discharge data to CHIA on a monthly, rather than quarterly, basis, allowing the Betsy Lehman Center to identify potential instances of SMM in the data and report back to hospitals within six to eight weeks.
Interviews with participants found that this accelerated process does not have a significant impact on workflow or workload, and that it helps provider teams focus on quality improvement initiatives. For more information about the pilot and its outcomes, read A Qualitative Process Evaluation of a Monthly Severe Maternal Morbidity Program for Massachusetts Birthing Hospitals.
Join the pilot to improve SMM data collection and advance quality improvement efforts
Reach out to the Betsy Lehman Center if you are interested in joining the pilot. Please contact Julia.Prentice@BetsyLehmanCenterMA.gov or Godwin.Osei-Poku@BetsyLehmanCenterMA.gov to get started.