State Maternal Health Innovation

For programmatic or technical questions:
Sarah Meyerholz, MPH
301.443.1702
wellwomancare@hrsa.gov

For grants management or budget questions:
Ernsley Charles
301.443.8329
ECharles@hrsa.gov

The State Maternal Health Innovation (State MHI) program provides funding to reduce maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity (SMM) by improving access to prenatal and perinatal care, enhancing state maternal health surveillance and data capacity, and implementing interventions to improve outcomes for populations disproportionately impacted by maternal mortality and SMM.

Program requirements include:

• Establish a new or adapt an existing state-focused maternal health task force (MHTF) to bring together maternal health stakeholders and serve as the central coordinating body for advancing maternal health within the state
• Improve state-level maternal health data and surveillance by identifying and collaborating with a multidisciplinary state-focused maternal mortality review committees MMRC and other state-focused initiatives to collect, analyze, and report data on pregnancy-related mortality, SMM, and other maternal health indicators
• Promote and execute innovative strategies in maternal health service delivery in the areas of quality, data capacity, and health disparities, with particular focus on particularly for those populations disproportionately impacted by maternal mortality and SMM
• Conduct performance measurement, program evaluation, and continuous quality improvement (CQI) activities to track program performance and outcomes

Eligible applicants include public or private nonprofits, community-based organizations, tribal governments, and tribal organizations.

Applicants that are not a state public health agency must submit a letter of agreement with their application documenting their relationship with the state public health agency and their plans for the agency's participation and collaboration in the project.

The award ceiling is based on the total number of annual births within the state where the project will be carried out, as follows:

• $1,000,000 per year for states with less than 50,000 births annually
• $1,500,000 per year for states with between 50,000 - 200,000 births annually
• $2,000,000 per year for states with 200,000 or more births annually

Project period: 5 years
Estimated number of awards: 18
Estimated total program funding: $18,000,000

Links to the full announcement, application instructions, and the online application process are available through grants.gov.