Grassroots Network: Health Care Reform Kick Off Events

Dear Friends,

Organizing for America, a website run by the Democratic Party, is working to get more people involved with Health Care Reform efforts. The activity is to have gatherings or house parties—Kick Off events -- on June 6 (yes, in just a couple of days!). You can host an event, or you can find one already scheduled in your town just by entering your zip code (see link below).

These gatherings do not have to be big and fancy, but they can focus attention on the importance of Maternity Care in health care reform, and in particular on Midwives, especially Certified Professional Midwives, as an important part of the solution.

President Obama has stated that real reform must uphold three core principles -- it must reduce costs, guarantee choice, and ensure quality care for every American.

Federal recognition of Certified Professional Midwives, so that they are eligible for Medicaid reimbursement, would address all three goals without costing anyone any additional money, and would actually save us all a lot of money.

Below are suggestions for participating in these Kick-Off events. Whether you host one or participate in one, you can talk about maternity care, midwifery and especially the financial and health benefits of increasing access to out of hospital birth with Certified Professional Midwives.

For additional useful facts and information:

CfM’s letter to Obama “Maternity Care: A Priority for Health Care Reform”

“State of American Childbirth”

“Out-of-Hospital Midwifery Care: Much Lower Rates of Cesarean Sections for Low-Risk Women"

“CPM Issue Brief - Certified Professional Midwives in the United States”

Additional factual information here (scroll down home page for Childbirth Connection’s “Health Care Reform Priorities for High Quality, High Value Maternity Care” and the Milbank Report on Evidence-based Maternity Care).

How to Participate in the Health Care Reform Kick Off Parties

1) Go to the Organizing for America website that is run the Democratic National Committee

2) Register if you do not already have a user name and password.

3) Click on "Host or Attend a Health Care Organizing Kick off"

4) Create your event, entitled, "Midwifery and Health Care Reform – (Your Town)." We would like all of the events to have the same name so that we will be more noticeable.

5) Follow the instructions to create your event, including inviting as many people as you can think of. Here is a description that you can use for your event:

"This 2 hour event will be designed to inform consumers and health care practitioners about the value of including midwifery in the upcoming Health Care Reform bills. We will discuss how everyone can get involved. Light refreshments will be served."

You can, however, say whatever you would like and plan whatever you would like.

6) Download or at least read online the instructions on how to host a Kick Off event. It will give you a little sense of what they are looking for. Our events will be more specific to midwifery. At some point during your event, you can have attendees log on to the Organizing for America site and write their stories. If you don’t want to host an event, attend one that is already scheduled and speak up about CPMs and home birth.

7) These kick offs are designed to mobilize people around spreading the word about health care reform. We want to mobilize people around spreading the word about how midwifery can be included in health care reform. Brainstorm ideas for talking to key legislators and policy makers in your area.

8) These kick offs are also wanting to inspire folks to do Health Care Service projects on June 27, 2009. Brainstorm how your group might “show off” how wonderful midwives are and could be in your community. How about collecting baby clothes donations for the homeless or low-income families. What about offering a free day of prenatal visits, massage and yoga. Be creative, be fun, be visible.

So…. Let’s be part of the national debate. We need to be concise, consistent and VISIBLE!! Have fun and let us know what happened!!

Sincerely,

Susan Hodges, “gatekeeper”

News from the MAMA Campaign: THE TIME IS NOW

"THE TIME IS NOW"

With those words on Wednesday night, President Obama urged Congress and all of us to work together to reform the U.S. health care system. And as the President noted, committees of Congress are already hard at work writing health care reform bills. _This means that now is also the time to stand up for Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs) as part of health care reform._

In his speech to the Joint Session of Congress, President Obama restated the basic components of his plan for health care reform, and addressed some of the controversies and misinformation that have been in the headlines. View the speech at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112695048

Based on the responses of Representatives and Senators from both sides of the aisle, there was strong agreement that the health care system has major problems and needs to be fixed, and that health insurance needs reform. While not everyone agrees on the best way to accomplish these goals, adding CPMs to the list of Medicaid providers is a no-brainer -- it would add a high quality, low cost choice for maternity care for women on Medicaid, and eventually for women on most insurance plans.

While details of reform are still being worked out, President Obama
mentioned that there is already agreement on about 80% of what is in the various draft bills. While the "public option" remains a contentious topic, it is only one possible part of the package. The MAMA Campaign goal to have Certified Professional Midwives added to the list of Medicaid providers does NOT depend on a public option being part of the health care reform plan.

President Obama stated: "_One of the unique and wonderful things about America has always been our self-reliance, our rugged individualism, our fierce defense of freedom and our healthy skepticism of government. And figuring out the appropriate size and role of government has always been a source of rigorous and sometimes angry debate_." The work of Certified Professional Midwives exemplifies these valuable characteristics, but making it possible for all women to have access to the choice of midwifery care in out-of-hospital settings is one appropriate place for federal government to play a role- just as it has successfully done in states across the country. _Adding Certified Professional Midwives to the federal list of Medicaid providers is a simple step to make this possible, and is why it should be part of any health care bill that comes out of Congress!_

Let's make sure CPM recognition is part of any health care bill that comes
out of Congress! Support MAMA today, donate at http://www.nacpmcommunity.org/content.aspx?page_id=301&club_id=962241

To read more about President Obama’s speech, visit
1. http://www.nationaljournal.com/congressdaily/hca_20090910_4249.php
2. http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2009/September/10/obama-speech-expert-panel.aspx

-RECESS IS OVER...TIME TO GET TO WORK
All summer long, and especially during the August recess, members of
Congress have been busy responding to questions about health care from their constituents. At town hall meetings across the country, people have been asking their legislators about pre-existing conditions, insurance costs, and the public option.

_But did you know that Americans nationwide were also asking about midwives?_

We do. We’ve seen the results of it. _Thanks to your letters and emails
and our weekly visits to Washington DC, legislators’ support is growing to
extend Medicaid coverage to include CPMs._ They are now considering our provision. With your help we can get them to include CPMs as a priority and put our amendment into the bills.

USE YOUR VOICE!
Congress is likely to act on health care reform this month. The more
legislators learn about Certified Professional Midwives, the more support
they show for an amendment that would reimburse CPM’s services through Medicaid. But legislators are cautious. They will not distinguish our amendment from the many proposed amendments unless they know that there is something special about it. They need to hear that their constituents want to be able to choose CPMs for their maternity care providers. There are still opportunities to insert our amendment into the House and Senate health care bills.

SO PLEASE CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATORS TODAY!
Ask them to support federal recognition for Certified Professional Midwives as Medicaid providers.

If you signed up to help at www.mamacampaign.org and you live in a key
state [ http://finance.senate.gov/sitepages/committee.htm] or district [http://energycommerce.house.gov], chances are that you have already heard directly from us over the last month asking you to call or write your Senator[http://www.senate.gov] or
Representative [http://www.house.gov] at their local or district offices. Thank you to all of you who have contacted your legislators in these key states and districts.

As the president puts pressure on congress to make reform happen, we need more letters from supporters across the country. Please write a letter to your own Congress members! Go to [http://mamacampaign.squarespace.com/contact-your-legislator] for instructions on writing and sending your legislators a letter. THANK YOU to all of you who have already written.

MAMA IS BLOGGING HEALTH CARE REFORM
You can follow the health care reform debate with MAMA! Read the latest post on our blog, The Grapevine at http://www.mamacampaign.org/grapevine

DONATE YOUR RESOURCES!
Your donations keep this campaign going. And we thank you for your
support. If you haven’t donated yet, please donate today! Your gift of $25, $50, or even $100 will ensure that legislators continue to hear about the importance of federal recognition for Certified Professional Midwives.Visit http://www.nacpmcommunity.org/content.aspx?page_id=301&club_id=962241 to make a donation today. MAMA is working for you!

Please help your MAMA!

Health Care or Medical Care?

For quite some time, breastfeeding advocates have been working to change the language of infant feeding to reflect that breastfeeding is the biological norm (and formula feeding is the replacement/substitute). This includes sharing about the "risks of formula feeding" rather than the "benefits of breastfeeding" as well as encouraging research that no longer uses formula-fed babies as the control group or considers formula to be a benign variable (i.e. the babies in the breastfed group of many research projects also received some formula, but since our culture views formula as the "norm," this was not seen as a conflict). I love Diane Wiessinger's example--would we ever see a research project titled "Clear air and the incidence of lung cancer." No! Problem behavior is linked to problem outcomes in other areas of research, so it would be "Smoking and the incidence of lung cancer." However, we routinely see research titles like "Breastfeeding and the rate of diabetes" rather than linking problem to outcome--"Infant formula and the rate of diabetes."

Similarly, "intactivists" (people who oppose circumcision) have pointed out that there should be no need to refer to some boys as "uncircumcised"--being uncircumcised is the biological norm, it is "circumcised" boys that should received the special word/label. (On a related side note, I have written about "pleonasms"--words that contain unnecessary repetition--and birth and breastfeeding on another blog before.)

So, this brings me to another need for a change in the common language--correctly identifying whether we are really talking about "Health Care" or "Medical Care." This was brought to my attention recently by Jody McLaughlin the publisher of Compleat Mother magazine. We have a tendency to refer to "health care" and to "health care reform" and "health insurance" and and "health care providers" and "health care centers," when it reality what we are truly referring to is "medical care"--medical care reform, medical insurance, medical care providers, and medical care centers. As she says (paraphrasing), "we do not have a HEALTH care system in this country, we have a MEDICAL care system." She also makes an interesting point about a trend to re-name medical care systems with names that use the word "health" instead:

This is what I have observed: Our local facility was called Trinity HOSPITAL, later re-named Trinity MEDICAL CENTER, and now it is Trinity HEALTH.

In the late 70’s and early 80’s the discussions centered around the MEDICAL crisis, MEDICAL reform, MEDICAL insurance and MEDICAL care cost containment.

MEDICAL insurance morphed into HEALTH CARE insurance. MEDICAL reform morphed into HEALTHCARE reform.

This is a difference with a distinction.

Health care includes clean air and safe water, enough good food to eat, exercise, rest, shelter and a safe environment as well as healing arts and the availability of and appropriate utilization of medical care services.

Medical care is surgery, pharmaceuticals, invasive tests and procedures. Malpractice tort reform is on the agenda too but no one is talking about reducing the incidence of malpractice, or alleviating the malpractice crisis by improving outcomes.

Why does this discussion belong on a midwifery blog? First, I wanted to address it because we have sent out several Grassroots Network messages regarding "health care reform" (and including access to CPMs in this legislation). Secondly, because I think it is clear that midwifery care can truly be described as health care, whereas standard maternity care in the U.S. can much more aptly be described as medical care.

--
Molly
CfM Blogger

Grassroots Network: Childbirth Connection’s response to LA Times article

Dear Friends,

Childbirth Connection has issued a statement in response to the May 17 LA Times article on maternity care. (If the link below to the article does not work, go to the LA Times and search for "Healthcare: Road to Reform" to find this article.) Childbirth Connection's well-written statement, that includes the pertinent facts about maternity care importance along with CC’s "8 Steps to Reform Maternity Care," is another useful document when contacting state or federal elected officials regarding the significance of maternity care in health care reform. Below is the note I received and the Statement.

Sincerely,
Susan Hodges, "gatekeeper"
--------------------

Dear Ms. Hodges,

Yesterday's "Healthcare: Road to Reform" story in the Los Angeles Times focused on rising rates of maternity care interventions such as c-section and labor induction and their negative impact on cost and quality. The article, "Childbirth: Can the U.S. improve?," also discusses our Evidence-Based Maternity Care report and our national symposium of maternity care leaders that took place in April.

Today, we issued a statement on how the maternity care industry can be overhauled. Please let me know if you've any questions. Thank you!

Kat Song
Childbirth Connection

-----

May 18, 2009

Maternity Care, A Major Segment of Health Industry, Must Be Overhauled

For Health Care Reform to Succeed, Says Childbirth Connection

New York NY As competing interests work out the particulars of health care reform, a leading national advocate for families and the women who give birth to over 4.3 million babies each year reminds the nation that rapid gains in the quality, value and cost of maternity care are achievable.

"It’s crystal clear: Let’s start providing maternity care that is proven to be the best," said Maureen Corry, Executive Director of Childbirth Connection, a not-for-profit advocating evidence-based maternity care (www.childbirthconnection.org). "Then, women and babies will get higher quality care with better results, and the savings from following best practices can be put toward providing health care to all."


Maternity care is a major segment of health care:

• 85% of women give birth. Childbirth is the number one reason for being hospitalized: 23% of those discharged from the hospital are childbearing women or newborns.
• Maternal and newborn charges are the runaway leader in hospital charges: $86 billion in 2006, $39 billion of which was shouldered by Medicaid. Childbirth accounts for six of the fifteen most common hospital procedures. Cesarean section is the most common operating room procedure.
• The cost of childbirth is borne by employers and private insurers who pay for 49% of all births, and taxpayers and Medicaid programs who pay for 43% of births.
• Costly childbirth procedures that entail risk are overused and wasteful, while proven ones that are generally safer and cheaper are underutilized:
• Per capita health expenditures in the U.S. far exceed those of all other nations, but our performance lags distantly behind other developed nations on quality indicators including low birthweight, c-section and maternal death rates.
• While the vast majority of childbearing women and their babies are healthy and at low risk, the current style of maternity care is procedure-intensive, costly and entails unnecessary risk. For example, induction and routine repeat c-section often contribute to preterm birth and expose women and babies to harm while offering little or no benefit. These and other common interventions: are associated with risk of harm to woman and baby; are experienced by a large and growing number of childbearing women; and result in wasted health care spending.
• While the economic stimulus bill has over a billion dollars slated for research on the comparative effectiveness of different medical treatments, a wealth of systematic reviews (well over 2,000 summarizing high quality research evidence on specific maternity care topics) is already available to guide maternity care practice. But this valuable knowledge is grossly underutilized in the U.S.
• A recent Milbank Memorial Fund report, Evidence-Based Maternity Care: What It Is and What It Can Achieve, shows that much of the care women receive is not consistent with the best evidence. It also outlines practices that have better results and are less technology- and procedure-intensive (e.g., continuous human support during labor). A Los Angeles Times op-ed (12-24-08) about this report concludes: "The Obama administration could save the country billions by overhauling the American way of birth."
  

“Consumers, legislators and health care stakeholders agree that access needs to be broadened, quality and value improved, and costs reduced. All of these goals are achievable for maternity care today by simply putting into practice what we already know,” said Corry.

What women want is often not what they get:

A national Harris Interactive survey of over 1,500 mothers shows that: About half of those with a previous c-section were interested in the option of vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC), but 57% were denied this option due to caregiver or hospital unwillingness; 17% who were induced say they felt pressured to do so by their caregiver, as did 25% of women who had cesareans; and, 73% of women had an episiotomy (a cut, rarely needed, to enlarge the opening of the vagina) reported that they had no choice in the matter.

“It’s time to replace provider and institutional centered care with patient-centered, evidence-based care that meets the individual needs, values, and preferences of women, babies and families. Better informed, shared decision making between patients and providers is essential to quality improvement,” said Corry.

Childbirth Connection’s 8 Steps to Reform Maternity Care:

• Ensure access to quality, affordable health care to all women. Stop insurers from excluding pregnancy as a pre-existing condition and using past birth experiences (e.g., c-section) to justify ineligibility or higher charges.
• Use maternity care practices proven to be best for women and babies.
• Move to a primary maternity care model by, for example, employing more midwives and family physicians and expanding access to freestanding birth centers. Most childbearing women and babies are healthy and at low risk. Primary maternity care supports innate capacities for birthing, breastfeeding and attachment, avoids overuse, and gives priority to prevention and wellness.
• Measure and publicly report the performance of maternity care providers and facilities, and use results to improve care.
• Reform payment policy to stop rewarding procedure-heavy maternity care that is unnecessary for most women and babies, through such mechanisms as bundled risk-adjusted payment for an entire episode of pregnancy.
• Medicaid, who pays for more than 43% of U.S. births, should initiate demonstration projects to test key strategies for maternity care quality improvement.
• Engage and educate consumers to help them make informed maternity care decisions including use of decision-aids based on comparative effectiveness research.
• Improve maternity health professions education and maternity care guidelines to enhance primary maternity care skills and knowledge to support innate capacities of mothers and newborns.
  

About Childbirth Connection

Founded in 1918, Childbirth Connection is a not-for-profit organization working to improve the quality of maternity care through research, education, advocacy and policy. As a voice for the needs and interests of over 4.3 million women who give birth annually, Childbirth Connection uses best research evidence and the results of its periodic national Listening to Mothers surveys to inform policy, practice, education and research.

Grassroots Network: MAMA Campaign goes into the “Home Stretch”

Dear Friends,

Here’s hoping you all had a terrific holiday season!

As you know from the news, the health care reform legislation is not yet finished. Here is the latest from the MAMA Campaign, which is still actively working for Certified Professional Midwives, because it isn’t over till it’s over!

For more about the MAMA Campaign, visit http://www.mamacampaign.org

Sincerely,
Susan Hodges “gatekeeper”

===================================================

From the MAMA Campaign:

Happy New Year From the MAMA Campaign!

We at the MAMA Campaign wish you a Happy New Year and hope you had an excellent holiday season! We enjoyed our time off with our families, and are now back to work for Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs) on Capitol Hill! We want to give you an update about our goals and plans for the next month, which is the critical “home stretch” as the House and Senate make preparations for their final vote on the health care reform bill.

MAMA is Back on the Hill for Midwives and Mothers
Your Senators and Congress Members returned to Washington this week and are back in action to produce a health care bill for President Obama to sign early in the New Year. And MAMA is right there too!

During these next few weeks, the House and the Senate will be working together in an informal “conference process” to reconcile the differences in the health care bills passed by each chamber late last year. Our MAMA lobbyist, Billy Wynne, informed us that high level negotiations began last Thursday among the staff of the Senate and House leadership and key committees to hammer out a bill that both chambers can pass. These staff members have cleared their calendars into the future for this work and held a 15 hour work session on Saturday. While the negotiations are already proving contentious, it is expected that a deal will in fact be reached and that a final bill will be sent to the President sometime in February.

The conference process offers a fresh opportunity for the Campaign to leverage the strong support that MAMA enjoys among members of the Senate Finance and the House Energy and Commerce Committees to raise the profile of Certified Professional Midwives in the final health care bill. MAMA leadership, along with MAMA constituents from key states and Health Policy Source, our intrepid lobbyists, are at work over these next weeks of the conference process to include language in the final bill that will specifically reference Certified Professional Midwives.

And we continue to be grateful to Senator Cantwell and Finance Committee leadership for Senator Cantwell’s provision that will have the effect of requiring payment of the provider fee for CPMs offering services in licensed birth centers – and for securing Senator Reid’s commitment to keep this provision in the bill throughout the conference process.
And remember: it is your support that has produced such important gains in Congress over these last months for Midwives and Mothers! So keep your letters and dollars flowing as MAMA moves into the New Year with fresh energy for Midwives and Mothers!

MAMA Is Ready To Start the Year Strong!
Individual contributions from people like you give MAMA life. Thanks to every one of our 500 donors, MAMA is alive and well! With just a few more weeks to go, we need just a few more dollars. Can you help us now by making a contribution of $50, $100, $500 or more? Every dollar will be well-spent as we wrap-up this phase of our campaign to achieve federal recognition of Certified Professional Midwives!
Any amount will make a difference!

Donate to MAMA at http://www.nacpmcommunity.org/content.aspx?page_id=301&club_id=962241 .

Keep Those Letters Coming!

As your legislators make crucial decisions about what will be included in health care reform, it is important that they hear from you and that they know that MAMA is watching! Write to your members of Congress today to ask them to include Certified Professional Midwives in any health care reform legislation! If you have not written yet, now is the time! If you have written previously, write again! Your Senators and Representatives need to hear from YOU on behalf of Certified Professional Midwives and Mothers, regardless of their position on health care reform. Visit http://www.mamacampaign.org/contact-your-legislator for help and sample letters you can use to contact your legislators.

MAMA Is Blogging Health Care Reform
Also back online after the holiday break is the Grapevine - MAMA’s source for keeping you up-to-date on health care reform. Come see our take on the latest happenings on Capitol Hill! Visit the Grapevine at http://www.mamacampaign.org/grapevine .

If you have any questions, concerns or comments please contact the campaign at info@mamacampaign.org.

Grassroots Network: Talk about Health Care Reform on radio talk shows!

Dear Friends,

Families USA has compiled a lot of information about participating and speaking up on radio talk shows, about health care reform. Whatever your leanings, you can use these resources to make opportunities to speak up about the role midwives could and should have in ANY plan for health care reform!

Sincerely,
Susan Hodges, "gatekeeper"


From Families USA:

I don't have to tell you that the health of our nation and our economy
depend on meaningful health care reform.

Far too many people are being left behind due to high costs and limited
access to quality affordable health care. Reform simply has to be the
top domestic priority of the next Administration and Congress.

With the elections only one month away, let's take this message to the
airwaves!

http://www.familiesusa.org/resources/tools-for-advocates/tips/talk-radio.html

We've created an online resource that lists radio talk shows where you
can make your voice heard on the need for health care reform. The
resource includes call-in information for over 40 nationally syndicated
and regional shows as well as numerous local shows in select states.
Eventually we plan to expand our list of local talk shows to more states.

http://www.familiesusa.org/resources/tools-for-advocates/tips/talk-radio.html

Conservatives have spent years amplifying their message through talk
radio, and it has proven to be highly effective. But if we want a
progressive solution to the health care crisis, we'll need to take the
airwaves back.

So call in and make your voice heard. Talk about how you are facing
rising costs in a sinking economy, too many of your friends and
neighbors have inadequate coverage or no coverage at all, or have faced
unfair denials due to pre-existing conditions, and so on. Urge listeners
to get involved, speak up, and take action to make sure health care is a
top priority for the next President and the next Congress.

Thank you,

Jeff Gordon
Field Director

----------------------------------------------------------

Visit the web address below to tell your friends to Stand Up for Health
Care!
Tell-a-friend!
<http://ga3.org/join-forward.html?domain=familiesusa&r=I1BBzipqj3BC>

If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for Families
USA <http://ga3.org/familiesusa/join.html?r=I1BBzipqj3BCE>.


--------
Families USA | 1201 New York Ave., NW, Suite 1100, Washington, DC 20005
www.familiesusa.org <http://www.familiesusa.org> | info@familiesusa.org
<mailto:info@familiesusa.org>

Grassroots Network: MAMA Campaign Update

Dear Friends,

Just in case some of you haven’t signed up with the MAMA Campaign, below is the latest e-mail update. Regardless of your opinions about the existing Health Care (Insurance) Reform bills, they include some things that are good for mothers and midwives. What Congress will do with health care reform is still up in the air, but we can all communicate to our Congress people that maternity care is still an urgent issue that should not be ignored in the midst of the political hoopla. We still need real care, access to midwives, and birth practices that are based on evidence, not legal fears or economics.

Sincerely,
Susan Hodges, “gatekeeper”

-----------------------------

A Call to Arms for Women and Families!

Now is the time to call and write to your legislators for women and families!

The political landscape of health care reform changed dramatically last week with the election of Scott Brown to fill Ted Kennedy’s seat in the Senate, but women’s needs for maternity care reform did not!

• Women in the many counties across the nation with no maternity care provider at all need access to care for their births
• Women whose previous cesarean section is deemed a pre-existing condition by insurance companies need access to reimbursement for their birth
• Women being pressured to have an induction at 40 weeks or to undergo other unnecessary interventions need access to evidence-based care
• Women who are part of the 32% cesarean section rate in the US need access to VBAC
• Women need access to normal birth options, increasingly rare in the US
• Women insured by Medicaid need access to birth centers
• And women need access to the care of CPMs if maternity care is to be reformed in the US!

With health care reform in jeopardy, the hard-won provisions that benefit childbearing women in the bills are in jeopardy, including:

• Senator Cantwell’s provision that would effectively require the payment of the provider fee for CPM births in birth centers
• The mandate for Medicaid to reimburse the facility fee for birth centers
• Childbirth Connection’s provision requiring the implementation of maternity care performance measures – a crucial step towards evidence-based maternity care
• Equitable reimbursement for Certified Nurse Midwives

Whatever your politics, please call your House Members and Senators today! If you are in favor of health care reform, let your legislators know today! Even if you are not in favor of the health care bill, tell your legislators to provide for the needs of childbearing women by preserving the above provisions in legislation!

Where is MAMA now?
MAMA is determined to look for every opportunity to see that the needs of childbearing women for improved quality and access to care are addressed by Congress. MAMA representatives were on the Hill to the last possible moment advocating for CPMs in the current health care reform legislation. As our lobbyist, Billy Wynne, told us, CPMs made more progress on the Hill in these last eight months than most provider groups new to the Hill make in 3-4 years! MAMA is extremely pleased with the extraordinary support gained from key Congressional leaders – thanks to all of your calls and letters to your legislators! And MAMA is especially grateful to Senator Cantwell for her determination to find a way to “get the ball rolling” for CPMs and for her provision in the Senate bill that would have the effect of requiring reimbursement of the provider fee for CPM births in birth centers. MAMA is grateful for these accomplishments and is determined and well-positioned for the next steps as we move forward into 2010.

Now is the time to regroup, evaluate and plan for success in 2010 for Federal recognition for CPMs. And MAMA is doing just that. The Campaign Steering Committee will soon:

• Meet in Washington, D.C. to capture all that we have learned so far and to solidify a strategy for 2010
• Hold a webinar for supporters about the progress of the campaign to date and to engage you in next steps for CPMs and mothers

Your Dollars for MAMA Make a Difference!
We are so close to our fundraising goal to finish out this phase of the campaign for Federal recognition for CPMs. We are so grateful for your support! Midwives and mothers, parents and grandparents, state midwifery associations and state consumer advocacy groups, have made possible this historic fundraising success! We need to raise just a few thousand dollars to reach our goal. Can you help? Any amount will make a difference. Please donate today. Thank you!

How to be Social With MAMA
In order to tell more people about our efforts, MAMA has been exploring the world of social networking! We not only have an active MAMA Campaign Group on Facebook, but we also have a MAMA Campaign Cause (sponsored by our non-profit fiscal agent, Foundation for the Advancement of Midwifery.) We want all of you to join the Facebook MAMA Campaign Cause and then let your friends know about it as well! It will only take a few minutes and we promise it will only hurt a little.

Easy Step-by-Step Instructions for joining Facebook and the MAMA Campaign Cause:

1. Get a cup of tea, a piece of chocolate...whatever relaxes you.
2. Turn on your computer...which is already on if you are reading this so go back to step one and then skip to step 3.
3. Go to your Internet search engine and type in "facebook"... if you are already a member of facebook then skip to step 6.
4. Join facebook by filling out the form clicking the button that says "sign up"
5. Get distracted for a little while trying to set up your profile (this is the painful part).
6. Type in www.causes.com/mamacampaign and hit enter.
7. "Bookmark" this cause so that you can find it again
8. Click the button to “Join the Cause.”

Congratulations! Now, invite your Facebook Friends to the Cause:

1. Now that you are a member of one of the most elite causes on the Internet (just kidding), you can invite a select group of your friends to join as well (actually, invite all of them).
2. When you first sign up, Facebook will prompt you to invite your friends; or as a member of this cause you can scroll down on the home page and see two incredibly important green buttons. One says "donate" (self-explanatory) the other says "Tell Friends"
3. Click on "Tell Friends" and you get an opportunity to post to your profile.
4. You can select up to 60 of your friends (popular people will have to do this over again for a few days) and then send them a message asking them to join the cause. Here is a sample message that you can use: “The Midwives and Mothers in Action (MAMA) Campaign now has a Cause page (sponsored by the Foundation for the Advancement of Midwifery) at www.causes.com/mamacampaign. I’ve joined the Cause because… (insert your own personal reason). So please spread the word and tell your friends. Help support federal recognition of Certified Professional Midwives.”
5. Now don’t forget to click on the “Donate” button on the Cause. The MAMA Campaign is within a few thousand dollars of our campaign fundraising goal. Here is your opportunity to help MAMA over the top! Any amount, $10, $20, $50 will make a big difference to the Campaign. Go ahead and give a little…
6. You're done. Now get off the computer and do something in the real world for awhile. Thanks for your time and attention.

MAMA Is Blogging Health Care Reform, visit our blog the Grapevine.

If you have any questions, concerns or comments please contact the campaign at info@mamacampaign.org.

Grassroots Network: Big Push for Midwives Action Alert

Dear Friends,

Health Care Reform is coming FAST! We are hearing from multiple sources that bills are being drafted now, for voting during the summer. Therefore, we are forwarding along this Action Alert from The Big Push for Midwives (see below). To find out more about The Big Push for Midwives campaign, visit their site.

A couple of suggestions to add to the Big Push's Action Alert information: First, In approaching your Senator and Representative, consider that "health care reform" is a huge topic, and only 1% of women are giving birth at home. Therefore, start with the bigger picture: the high importance of reforming Maternity Care in order to improve birth outcomes (a problem in the US), lowering costs (inexcusably high in the US), and addressing "Comparative Effectiveness" (the new buzzword for studying what works and what doesn't in health care, for which funds have already been earmarked). CPMs certainly have an important role to play (as noted in the Big Push action alert), but you may be more effective if you start with the "big picture" issues.

Second, in addition to the BigPush FAQ flier linked below, Citizens for Midwifery has material that you may find very useful, for background information, ideas, or in some cases to give to the legislator or include with a letter. Among the many resources on our website, the following may be particularly useful:

CfM's Health Care Reform Recommendations to Obama Transition Team

Out-of-Hospital Midwifery Care: Much Lower Rates of Cesarean Sections for Low-Risk Women

State of American Childbirth--2005 and 2006 Data [note: this is the most recent data available]

And don't forget: if you are not able to personally visit your US Senator or Representative, write a letter! The sooner the better! CfM has some tips for writing letters to legislators. Developed for writing to state legislators, this guide can easily be adapted to this situation, and the basic tips all apply. Find this at:
Anyone Can Write to Their Legislator - It's Easy
Basically, hand write your letter, and keep the letter short and to the point (you can always include an additional fact sheet or two).

Sincerely,
Susan Hodges, "gatekeeper"
****************************************
From The Big Push for Midwives:

Urgent Request for Action!

WASHINGTON Must Hear Direct From Grassroots America

Folks, I have some urgent news to report. PushScouts who have attended White House town-hall health care meetings across the country with policy wonks and DC insiders have all returned with the same message:

Federal health care reform is moving fast and *the window of opportunity for including Certified Professional Midwives is rapidly closing.* Bills are being drafted now and any providers who aren't on "the list" by September
will be left behind.

The time to act is now.

*We need each and every Pusher* to schedule an in-district meeting with their member of Congress and two Senators today. Both chambers are in recess, and members are in their home districts until April 19th. This is a
*golden opportunity* to begin educating our federal representatives about CPMs and to make sure all of us are doing everything we can to *make sure that CPMs are included in the final reform package*.

Scheduling a meeting is easy, but many other groups are competing for face-time and the available *slots are filling up fast.* So please follow the instructions below and *call* your federal delegation today!

*Midwives, please forward this important information to your clients,* past and present, and ask them to schedule a visit with their federal representatives. Also, it's important that CPMs represent their profession at the federal level, so please *pick one or two clients you would like to accompany you to a visit* and ask them to join you.

Attached you will find a two-page FAQ that includes each of the messages your representatives need to hear. You can also download it from the PushSite.

All you need to do in the next week is *1)* pick one or two of your favorite points to talk briefly about, *2)* record any questions they may have that you are unable to answer to pass along for follow-up, *3) *leave the FAQ
sheet with their staff and *4)* report back to other Pushers about your meeting!

Because there is strength in numbers, we ask you to recruit one or two supportive allies to go to the meeting with you: community leaders, local clergy, physicians, nurses or other providers, a neighbor or member of your
family. It is important that our members of the Senate and Congress understand that *access to CPMs is important to Americans from all walks of life,* not just to those of us who choose this model of care or are CPMs ourselves.

*SCHEDULING AN IN-DISTRICT MEETING IS AS EASY AS A-B-C: *

All you need to do is identify your U.S. representative and two U.S. senators and contact them!

A. Use this link to determine your full zip code, which is your ZIP+four code.

B. Use this link and type in your ZIP+four code to determine your U.S. representative.

C. Use this link to determine your two U.S. senators.

Please make the call today! *We have 10 days* until their April recess is over.

Below is a list of tips and pointers to help you plan a smooth and easy visit with your federal representatives. Remember, they work *for you*!

*Tips for Visiting Your Members of Congress in Their District Offices*

§ When you call to make the appointment, be sure to *mention that you are a constituent*, where you live and that you would like to briefly discuss the importance of including Certified Professional Midwives, who are specialists in out-of-hospital birth, in federal health reform.

It may take more than one call to get an appointment. Don't be shy about calling more than once!

§ Meeting with the staff person in charge of health care is every bit as effective as meeting with your member of Congress. Don't be discouraged if your representative can't meet with you—convincing staff that your issue is worthwhile is *a huge step forward* in getting your representative to support you.

§ Take a look at your representatives' web pages and get some background on their issues of interest or any legislation they support that you do, too.

§ *Recruit at least one other person in your community to join you*, but appoint one lead spokesperson for the meeting.

§ Be sure to wear business-casual clothes—no jeans or t-shirts, please!

§ Be considerate of their time. Make sure you keep track of your time and articulate your position without running over your allotted time.

§ After you have briefly made one or two points about the importance of including CPMs in federal health care reform, *ask if they have any questions*.

§ If you don't know the answer to a question, tell them you will pass it along to *The Big Push for Midwives Steering Committee
* for follow up.

§ After you've answered any questions, *ask them if they have a position on CPMs and out-of-hospital birth.* Offer to provide them with more information if they haven't yet taken a position.

§ Even if they are non-committal, *ask them for advice about what you can do to get CPMs included in federal health care reform.* Legislators and staff appreciate being asked to share their expertise and insight about
the legislative process with constituents.

§ It is appropriate to take notes about any questions they may want follow up or about advice they are offering. Save notes on the rest of the discussion for after your meeting.

§ Be sure to leave staff with your contact information and make sure you have theirs.

And of course, please don't forget to thank everyone for their time!

*The Final Push*

After you leave, sit down and conduct a brief review with others at the meeting. Assign someone to take notes and write down any key information or questions such as the legislator/staff's position, questions they have, objections they raised and any advice they offered.

Write legislators and staff after the visit to thank them for their time. Remind them of anything they may have agreed to do and send any additional information they may have requested.

*Report back to The Push Team*!* *Please forward notes and questions to Steff at Steff@TheBigPushForMidwives.org and share your experience, thoughts and tips with others at The Big Push for Midwives Facebook Discussion board.

Don't be shy about staying in touch with legislators and staff with alerts or other relevant news or information about CPMs. Effective advocacy at the legislative level is all about relationships—it's important to start building them now with your federal representatives and their staff.

Grassroots Network: “A Victory for Mothers and Babies”

Dear Friends,

The CfM Board is celebrating the improvements for mothers, babies and families that are part of the health care reform bill passed last night! Read below the latest from the MAMA Campaign lists those improvements. We are proud of our work with the MAMA Campaign, which will continue to work for increasing access to Certified Professional Midwives!

Sincerely,
Susan Hodges, “gatekeeper”


From the MAMA Campaign:

A Victory for Mothers and Babies!
Midwives and mothers, babies and families, are victors today! With the passage of the Senate health care reform bill in the U.S. House of Representatives on Sunday, March 21, and the signature of the President in the coming days, several provisions that will significantly benefit mothers and babies will now be the law of the land! These provisions will increase access to birth options for low-income women across the country, and will improve the quality of maternity care for all women in the years to come. The MAMA Campaign is proud to have had a role in improving conditions for midwives and mothers in this landmark legislation.

The following are now law:

• MAMA Campaign’s “partial victory”: Senator Cantwell’s provision that will have the effect of requiring Medicaid reimbursement for licensed CPMs offering services in licensed birth centers
• American Association of Birth Center’s provision that mandates Medicaid reimbursement of the birth center facility fee
• Childbirth Connection’s provision requiring quality assessment and improvement measures specific to maternity care
• American College of Nurse Midwives’ equitable reimbursement act for Certified Nurse Midwives
• And: giving birth, having a cesarean section, or being the victim of domestic abuse will no longer be considered pre-existing conditions and used to deny insurance coverage to women!

What Happens Now With This Legislative Process?
Last night, the House of Representatives passed the Senate health care reform bill that contains the above provisions and the President will sign this bill into law in the coming days. The House also passed a companion reconciliation bill, popularly called a “side car" or "fix it”, to address the House’s concerns about the Senate bill. This companion bill now goes to the Senate for consideration. It is expected that debate will begin in the Senate on Tuesday, and that Republicans will introduce a number of amendments, with debate taking several days. The Senate will be considering this bill under the reconciliation process which requires a simple majority to pass, and Democrats appear confident that they have the votes to pass this bill in the Senate.

Thank You for Your Role in This Victory!
Thank you to each and every one of you who supported the MAMA Campaign and these provisions for women and families. Every letter that you wrote and every dollar that you gave made a difference! We look forward to working with you this year as the MAMA Campaign continues the effort to cover all CPM services in all settings in the Federal Medicaid program.

Moving Beyond Health Care Reform- MAMA Continues to Fight for CPMs
MAMA continues to be on the move for midwives and mothers in Washington, D.C! The MAMA Campaign Steering Committee met in Washington, D.C. two weeks ago, March 5th – 7th, to evaluate the campaign to date and to re-commit to working together to achieve our central goal: to amend the Social Security Act to require the reimbursement of all CPM services in the Federal Medicaid program. On March 5th, 8th & 9th, steering committee members met with 35 Congressional offices on behalf of midwives and mothers. It was clear in these visits that our policy gained significant support in 2009 in key offices and that this support can be leveraged as we move forward in 2010.

You will be hearing from us over the next weeks and months, asking for your input, your engagement and your support as MAMA continues to do our part to improve maternity care in the U.S. and to increase women’s access to Certified Professional Midwives.

Thank Your Legislators!
If your Senators and Congress Members voted for health care reform, including the provisions for women and families, please write to them to thank them. If your legislators voted against health care reform, please write to ask them to ensure in Federal legislation that women have access to Certified Professional Midwives, a high-quality, low-cost option. As always, your legislators need to hear from you on behalf of midwives and mothers!

Support Your MAMA
In celebration of the passage of our “partial victory” and in support of our on-going work to increase women’s access to Certified Professional Midwives, please consider donating to the MAMA Campaign today!

If you have any questions, concerns or comments please contact the campaign at info@mamacampaign.org.

It's Crunch Time--News from the MAMA Campaign

=IT’S CRUNCH TIME=

Congress is ready to move on health care reform. But will they make
Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs) part of that reform? We still hope
so, and we know you do, too. You have been working hard with us for months on this campaign to give CPMs federal recognition. You’ve written your letters and you’ve told your friends. You’ve helped us along the way. But now we need a little more.

-At Long Last, the Senate Has a Bill-
Last Wednesday, the powerful Senator Max Baucus of Montana introduced his long-awaited America’s Healthy Future Act. This bill will be the crux of the health care reform debate for the next few weeks. Read a summary of Baucus’s bill on his website.

The bill is large and complicated, with provisions that will affect
insurance companies, Medicare, and even Native American tribes.

But it is silent on the important issue of Medicaid patients’ access to
CPMs.

We have been pounding the pavement in Washington, D.C., letting legislators know in person about the health benefits and cost savings that CPMs can provide. The legislators are interested. Because of our persistent outreach, all of the key offices are aware of Certified Professional Midwives and that CPMs can be part of the health care reform solution. They are sympathetic to our cause. But they need to hear from you, their constituents, in order for that sympathy to be translated into legislative action. To legislators hearing form constituents is the most important thing!

-Use Your Voice!-
We’ve asked you to contact your legislators, and you’ve delivered! Already, thanks to your letters, dozens of legislators have expressed support for our amendment, several in writing, and including several members of the committee that are writing the health care bills.

But we need more. Congress only pays attention if you tell them over and over. Please write your legislator today and ask them to support the inclusion of CPMs in Medicaid! Did you already write a letter? Write again! Go to http://mamacampaign.squarespace.com/contact-your-legislator for instructions on writing and sending your legislators a letter. THANK YOU to all of you who have already written.

-The Today Show Insults Midwives-
Last week the Today show ran a startling piece of yellow journalism titled,
"[1]The Perils of Homebirth". We did not like it, and if you saw it, we bet
you did not like it either: it quoted the American College of Obstetricians
and Gynecologists (ACOG) as comparing home birth to a “spa treatment.” But despite its obvious bias, the piece did drive home some important facts:
Links:
1. http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/32795933#32795933

1. Home birth is on the rise in the U.S. and our efforts are gaining the
attention of the mainstream. The insulting attacks on home birth by ACOG in the piece are a sure sign that they feel threatened by the growing preference in the U.S. for midwives, home birth, and choices in maternity care. They try to make us afraid, but we know the truth: the latest published study on home birth reveals it to be [2]safer than hospital birth for low risk women, even in cases of vaginal birth after caesarean (VBAC)!
Links:
2. http://www.cfpc.ca/local/user/files/%7B7A4B29B5-2599-4374-81FF-D061F23496BB%7D/Home%20birth%20cmaj.081869v1.pdf

2. Mothers and Midwives do not take kindly to cheap shots. Viewer comments flooded the Today Show and were overwhelmingly [3]pro-midwife. We feel confident that the producers of the show now know that we will not be cowed by scare tactics and sensational stories.
Links:
3. http://www.newsvine.com/_question/2009/09/11/3252633-is-choosing-a-home-birth-with-a-midwife-worth-the-potential-risk

We know that YOU are going to help us STAND AND DELIVER the kind of choices that you, your children, and their children deserve in maternity care.

-MAMA Is Blogging Health Care Reform.-
You can follow the health care reform debate with MAMA! Read the latest post on our blog, The Grapevine.

Donate Your Resources! Visit http://www.nacpmcommunity.org/content.aspx?page_id=301&club_id=962241

This is a historic moment for midwives! The MAMA Campaign was launched in May, just four short months ago, and we have already garnered the attention of top Congressional leaders and federal agencies. MAMA has been busy! Of particular significance are the many less obvious but equally important gains made by the MAMA Campaign. In support of our common goal, our six partner organizations entered into a formal relationship for the first time! While our short-term goal of federal recognition is clear and focused, the long-range impact of bringing national attention to CPMs and their potential contributions to health policy is immeasurable in its importance.

To date, MAMA has received nearly $100,000 in individual contributions and organizational support! Now, we need at least an additional $50,000 in order to maintain our presence in Washington, DC through this Congressional debate over healthcare reform. We have come so far, and we can’t stop now.

Please consider making a contribution today to help carry us over the
top! Invest in the future of midwifery in the United States!

Please donate at http://www.nacpmcommunity.org/content.aspx?page_id=301&club_id=962241

With hope for a future that holds a Midwife for every Mother!
-The MAMA Campaign www.mamacampaign.org

Grassroots Network: Childbirth Connection “2020 Vision” reports released!

Dear Friends,

This is just in from Childbirth Connection! I have not had time to read the reports yet, but I expect they will prove to be extremely valuable resources and powerful support for maternity care reforms that include evidence-based care and midwives!!

Sincerely,
Susan Hodges, “gatekeeper”

__________________________________________

RELEASE: Landmark Maternity Care Reports Issued; Consumers, Providers Hammer Out Recommendations

Please read below about two new reports developed over the past two years through a multi-stakeholder collaborative process: “2020 Vision for a High-Quality, High-Value Maternity Care System” and “Blueprint for Action.” These reports incorporate the thinking of over 100 maternity care leaders representing every industry stakeholder – from hospitals and health plans to consumers and providers. The recommendations in these reports are expected to have major impact on health care reform and on the future of birth in the US. They include specific proposals to overhaul the payment system, improve the liability system, and steps to reduce harm, improve quality and women’s experiences of care.

-----
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 28, 2010
Contact: Kat Song - katsong@childbirthconnection.org

Childbirth Connection Releases Landmark Reports For Revamping U.S. Maternity Care System
That Point To Rapid Gains in Quality and Value

Consumers, Providers and Other Groups Hammer Out System-Wide Recommendations and Action Steps

Washington DC - Childbirth Connection today released two landmark reports that create a framework for revamping maternity care in the US and advancing health care reform: “2020 Vision for a High Quality, High Value Maternity Care System” and “Blueprint for Action.” The reports were developed through an extensive multi-year collaboration with more than 100 maternity care leaders representing industry stakeholders – from hospitals and health plans to consumers and providers. These reports and related papers have just been published in a special supplement of Women’s Health Issues.

"Recognizing that rapid gains in the quality, value and outcomes of maternity care are well within reach, Childbirth Connection launched its Transforming Maternity Care project several years ago,” said Maureen Corry, executive director, Childbirth Connection. Although a wealth of high-quality evidence and experiences of high-performing segments of the maternity care system were readily available to improve maternity care, these resources were not impacting most women and newborns. “It was time to act and we called upon key leaders across the health care system to develop a long-term vision for the future of maternity care in the United States. This vision served as a starting point for a collaborative process to develop action steps for broad-based maternity care system improvement,” said Corry.

Maternity care is the runaway leader in hospital charges and is the number one reason for hospitalization in the country. Maternal and newborn hospital charges alone exceeded $86 billion in 2007, with employers and private insurers paying for 50% of all births and Medicaid paying for 42%. While most childbearing women and their babies are healthy and at low risk, the current style of maternity care is technology-intensive. Costly childbirth procedures that entail risk are overused and wasteful, while proven ones that are generally safer and less expensive are underutilized. Marked disparities in access, quality and outcomes persist, with many maternal and newborn health indicators moving in the wrong direction. The return on investment for our significant expenditure in this important sector is poor.

"The good news is that every challenge is an opportunity for improvement that can benefit millions of mothers and babies annually. The ‘2020 Vision’ developed by a multi-disciplinary, multi-stakeholder team, puts forth the values, principles and attributes of an optimal maternity care system and describes fundamental goals for a system meeting those criteria,” said Rima Jolivet, Transforming Maternity Care Project Director, Childbirth Connection. “With the ‘2020 Vision’ in hand, five stakeholder workgroups collaborated to develop reports with recommendations and action steps for moving toward the vision,” said Jolivet.

Stakeholder workgroup chairs presented their reports and recommendations at an invitational policy symposium commemorating Childbirth Connection’s 90th anniversary. Transforming Maternity Care: A High Value Proposition was held at Georgetown University, Washington DC, in April 2009. Invited discussants, moderators and the audience provided comments to strengthen the reports and recommendations. The Transforming Maternity Care Steering Committee then synthesized the workgroup reports and additional feedback into the direction-setting report, “Blueprint for Action: Steps Toward a High-Quality, High-Value Maternity Care System.” The Blueprint answers the question “Who needs to do what, to, with and for whom to improve the quality of maternity care over the next five years?” Actionable strategies to improve maternity care quality and value are centered on eleven critical focus areas for change:

- Performance measurement and leveraging of results
- Payment reform to align incentives with quality
- Disparities in access and outcomes of maternity care
- Improved functioning of the liability system
- Scope of covered maternity care services
- Coordination of care across time, settings and disciplines
- Clinical controversies
- Decision-making and consumer choice
- Scope, content and availability of health professions education
- Workforce composition and distribution
- Development and use of health information technology

"A great achievement of the project is the remarkable level of consensus that was reached by the workgroups through an in-depth, collaborative process to arrive at negotiated agreements and sound proposals for tackling complex issues,” said Ned Calonge, Chief Medical Officer, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment who served as Chair of the workgroup for Maternity Care Clinicians and Health Professions Educators.

The Blueprint for Action is the first step in a long-term initiative to undertake collaborative national, regional, and local endeavors to improve maternity care quality and value. At the briefing, Corry announced the establishment of a public-private Transforming Maternity Care Partnership to carry out the next phase of the project and implement Blueprint steps to accelerate health system change.

"We welcome all maternity care stakeholders to identify relevant Blueprint steps and join this effort to attain rapid achievable gains in maternity care quality and value on behalf of childbearing women and newborns,” said Donna Lynne, President of Kaiser Permanente Health Plan of Colorado and Transforming Maternity Care Steering Committee member.

The "2020 Vision" and "Blueprint for Action" reports are freely available on the Women's Health Issues website at:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/issue/5192-2010-999799998.8998-1591119

To learn more about the Transforming Maternity Care project, please visit:
http://www.childbirthconnection.org/tmc/

For a fact sheet on maternity care in the United States, go to:
http://www.childbirth connection.org/article.asp?ck=10621

About Childbirth Connection
Founded in 1918, Childbirth Connection ( www.ChildbirthConnection.org) is a not-for-profit organization working to improve the quality of maternity care through research, education, advocacy and policy. As a voice for the needs and interests of over 4.3 million women who give birth annually, Childbirth Connection uses best research evidence and the results of its periodic national Listening to Mothers surveys to inform policy, practice, education and research.

# # #

Kat Song
Director of Public Affairs
www. ChildbirthConnection .org

Sign up for eNews (occasional news and alerts) at http://tinyurl.com/yfwm2sw

Join the Maternity Quality Matters Campaign for women and babies!
www.childbirthconnection.org/joinmaternityqualitymatters

PUSH Alert re: Health Care & CPMs

The Big Push Campaign is seeking signatures on a new petition to support the inclusion of CPMs in health care reform. (This petition relates in part to opposition to CPMs that I posted about last week.)
------------------------------
PUSH TO OPEN Health Care Reform to
Certified Professional Midwives!

Today, right now, please go to http://tinyurl.com/Support-CPMs-Petition

BE THE PERSON whose signature and whose action on behalf of out-of-hospital maternity care
pushes the button to open health care reform to Certified Professional Midwives!

One Minute to Sign It, One Minute to Push It On Go to http://tinyurl.com/Support-CPMs-Petition today to sign your name to support including Certified Professional Midwives and out-of-hospital maternity care in federal health care reform. Then, help spread the word about the PushPetition to others. It is so very important for us to show members of Congress (who continue to draft bills this week and next!) that there is widespread support for Certified Professional Midwives and out-of-hospital maternity care across our country. If you are a midwife, doula, or childbirth educator, please send to your clients since they will always be the biggest supporters. Please post to other groups. We want to raise the roof with 10,000 signatures. Do your part -- sign today and PUSH it out to others! Share with friends, colleagues, post to Facebook and all your yahoo groups. Incorporating CPMs into federal health care reform is something that both Democrats AND Republicans have been able to get behind in Washington. They understand it will not only save lots of money, but also improve the health of mothers and babies. Thank you!!!!

Grassroots Network: Big Push Health Care Strategy

Dear friends,

Below is a press release from The Big Push campaign. This strategy--of asking politicians to think about "beginning of life" issues as they think about "end of life" issues in terms of health care reform--may work well when you go to talk to your local legislators or Town Hall meeting about maternity care!

Sincerely,
Arielle Bywater, "sidekick"

Advocates Spotlight Absence of "Beginning-of-Life" Provisions in House Bill
Maternity Care Crisis Ignored as Controversy about End-of-Life Issues Continues

Washington, DC (August 17, 2009)­As the controversy over the inclusion of end-of-life provisions in the House health care reform bill continues, questions emerged about the lack of "beginning-of-

life" provisions in the bill that would expand access to maternity care providers and settings and ensure that patients receive adequate care across their life span.

"The U.S. has one of the worst infant and maternal mortality rates in the developed world," said Elizabeth Allemann, MD. "The cesarean section rate has skyrocketed to more than a third of all births in the country, and with nearly half of all births being paid for by Medicaid, taxpayers are getting hit hard. We have a crisis on our hands and we need to start paying as much attention to beginning-of-life issues as we do to end-of life-issues."

Among the measures being promoted by advocates seeking to reform the maternity care system is the addition of a provision to the House bill that would provide access to out-of-hospital birth and the services of Certified Professional Midwives, who are specially trained to provide it, for women receiving Medicaid.

"We know that women cared for by Certified Professional Midwives experience significantly reduced rates of low birth weight and preterm births, two of the leading causes of cost increases and growing racial and ethnic disparities in birth outcomes," said Jane Peterson, LM, CPM. "Moreover, Certified Professional Midwives are able to produce these outcomes at a fraction of the cost of traditional maternity care. The House bill represents a golden opportunity for us to embrace maternity care reforms that truly can make a positive impact on our health care system and on the lives of mothers and babies."

David A. Anderson, Professor of Economics at Centre College, calculates that if the rate of births that take place in private homes and in freestanding birth centers increased by less than ten percent, we would realize an annual savings of more than $9 billion. A 2008 study commissioned by the state of Washington found that its licensed midwife program generates a savings of more than $3 million to private and public insurers each biennium.

"With all of the talk about the importance of end-of-life issues," said Dr. Allemann, "It's time for us to also recognize that giving everyone a good start at the beginning of life has far-reaching implications for our health care system. Including out-of-hospital maternity care and Certified Professional Midwives in health care reform is a small but very important first step."

The Big Push for Midwives Campaign represents thousands of grassroots advocates in the United States who support expanding access to Certified Professional Midwives and out-of-hospital maternity care. The mission of The Big Push includes educating the public and policymakers about the reduced costs and improved outcomes associated with out-of-hospital birth and Certified Professional Midwives, the maternity care providers trained to provide that service. Media inquiries: Katherine Prown (414) 550-8025, katie@thebigpushformidwives.org

#####

The Big Push for Midwives Campaign | 2300 M Street, N.W., Suite 800 | Washington, D.C. 20037-1434 | TheBigPushforMidwives.org

Grassroots Network: May 7th MOM Campaign Webinar Postponed

Dear Friends,

This message comes from the campaign steering committee.

The Webinar on Midwives and Health Care Reform previously announced for Thursday, May 7th at 8 p.m. EST has been postponed. (GNM 905023 included a “save the date” announcement.) Sorry for any inconvenience this postponement may have caused, but it couldn’t be helped. Keep your eyes open for a new webinar date and time.

Midwives & Mothers in Action (M.A.M.A) Campaign, previously Midwives Organizing for Mothers or M.O.M., is a new national campaign to secure federal recognition of Certified Professional Midwives. The M.A.M.A. Campaign Steering Committee includes the National Association of Certified Professional Midwives (NACPM), the Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA), the North American Registry of Midwives (NARM), the Midwifery Education Accreditation Council (MEAC), Citizens for Midwifery (CfM) and the International Center for Traditional Childbearing (ICTC). Mary Lawlor, of NACPM, and Susan Hodges, of CfM, are the co-leaders of the M.A.M.A Campaign.

We are seeking to work in cooperation with allies in the midwifery advocacy community. We hope you will help as well.

In the coming days and weeks, the M.A.M.A Campaign will be providing the midwifery and advocacy community with further information about the campaign and avenues to help raise awareness and secure a place for Certified Professional Midwives in the developing federal health care system.

Here are two things you can do now to help:

1. Encourage moms and other midwifery supporters to make posts on blogs, forums and social networking sites on Mother’s Day praising the wonderful care they received from their midwives.

2. Attend any local health care reform events and raise awareness of the importance of maternity care to the national health care system. Most officials do not realize that maternity care represents almost ¼ of hospital discharges- which makes it a critical part of the health care reform conversation. Midwives increase access to maternity care for mothers and babies. Praise the care CPMs provide and state the important role they play in providing high quality evidence based cost effective maternity care.

CfM’s President, Susan Hodges, and Vice President, Nasima Pfaffl, are the designated members of the M.A.M.A Campaign Steering Committee representing Citizens for Midwifery. The two of us just returned from a successful planning meeting in Washington DC. We (members of the Steering Committee) also met with various legislators and congressional committee members. Congress has laid out an ambitious timeline for achieving health care reform this year, and we are ready to be part of it!

Sincerely,
Susan Hodges, “gatekeeper”

Grassroots Network: Give health care reform feedback to Obama! There is still time!

Dear Friends,

This is the last Grassroots Network message for 2008, and Happy New Year to all of you!

There is still time to give your ideas about health care reform to the Obama Team.

First, there is still time to hold an "official" health care discussion in your community. While the Obama team encouraged us to have such meetings prior to Dec. 31, they will still be accepting feedback from such meetings through the first week of January (or so).

You can find out more about these discussion meetings here. Included on this page are links to the Moderator Guide, and the Participant Guide, as well as a link to sign up to hold one of these meetings. You don't have to have lots of people (they recommend not more than 15-20, and fewer is fine), and it can be very informal. But do officially sign up, and then submit your report afterward that is how you will get your group's feedback to the Obama team. You can have your meeting about health care reform in general, or you can specify a more focused topic, such as "Maternity Care: A Key Part of Health Care Reform" or whatever you come up with.

I didn't think I could do this, given a bad cold on top of the holidays etc., but brought up the idea with a couple of other people in my town, and as of today our discussion meeting is happening on Jan. 6. So get a couple of people to work with you. It really is not that much work and the Guides provided by the Obama team can be a great help.

Second, the Obama team is again soliciting questions (and votes on the posted questions) regarding a variety of issues. Go here.

Create an account (very easy) or log in if you already have one (you have to be logged in to vote or post a question). If you are interested in maternity care or midwives, select "Health Care" on the left side bar, and type in "midwifery" or "midwives" or "maternity care" or other topic of interest in the search bar at the top. Once you're logged in, you can click on the check marks by each question to vote yes/no for each one. It would be great for the Obama team to get the message that a lot of people think that changes in maternity care, and especially more midwives, are important! You can vote for as many questions as you want. You can also write your own questions!

Sincerely,
Susan Hodges, "gatekeeper"

Grassroots Network: News from MAMA Campaign

Dear Friends,

Below is the latest news from the MAMA Campaign, which continues to work hard to get CPMs added to the list of Medicaid providers into the health care reform bills that are developing in Congress. Regardless of your personal opinion about “health care reform” overall, having CPMs listed as Medicaid providers definitely would be cost effective and would increase choices for all pregnant women.

If you have not already done so, I strongly encourage you to visit www.mamacampaign.org to find out more. Sign up to endorse the campaign (and receive news e-mails directly), make a donation if you possibly can, find fact sheets and other resources specific to this campaign. Congress is now in recess for August so your Senators and Representative are likely to be in their home districts. Consider making an appointment to meet with your Representative and/or Senator, or at least writing a letter – you can find examples, how-to’s, talking points and fact sheets on the website.

Hope you are having a good summer!

Sincerely,

Susan Hodges “gatekeeper”

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“Sometimes the most direct route to your heart’s desire is a path full of twists and turns…” (Anonymous)

Well, friends and supporters of the Mothers and Midwives in Action (MAMA) Campaign ­we are certainly on a road full of twists and turns…We are also moving fast and keeping many apples in the air to ensure that the path is an upward, successful climb.

Health care reform action has EXPLODED this week in Washington, D.C. Support for federal recognition of Certified Professional Midwives has been building and very much a part of the action this week. Even as we write to you all today, analysis of the status of amendments in the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee is neither complete nor final.

The House of Representatives has adjourned for the August recess and the Senate will adjourn at the end of next week. Lots of outreach to Congress members can happen during the August recess and that will be our focus. What is clear is that our work together will continue throughout the August recess and into Congressional debates in September. Fasten your seatbelts, sound the alarm, we are all in this TOGETHER!

For more about the process of overall health care reform in Congress, visit http://www.uhcan.org/.

NEWS of SUPPORT: MAMA is thrilled to receive full recognition and support from major national organizations this week:

National Women's Law Center
Our Bodies Ourselves
National Women's Health Network
Raising Women's Voices
Childbirth Connection
Coalition for Improving Maternity Services (CIMS)

FINANCIAL NEWS: MAMA is nearing the halfway mark in raising the minimum money essential for the success of our Campaign. We have roughly $70,000 in hand or pledged. ALERT! We must stay on our pace of raising $10,000 a week for the rest of the Congressional session in order to complete our goal. To ensure skilled help in Washington DC and well-organized coordination of our country-wide support, we must continue to call out to all supporters for help with this financial reality. Thanks to all of you who have already donated. Do send our message far and wide to your friend and family networks!

For more reasons to donate, watch this! Hear what moms, dads and grandparents across the country have to say about CPMs and choices in childbirth. Please watch this inspiring video and send it on to friends, family and clients.


NETWORKING NEWS: Join us on Facebook and Twitter!
Our network is growing and with your help we can reach more supporters to our cause. Please invite your Facebook Friends to join the MAMA Campaign Facebook Group. Visit our group and click on the "Invite your Friends" link on our page. You will be able to send a message to all of your Facebook friends asking them to join the MAMA Campaign!





Subscribe to the MAMA Grapevine ­MAMA’s blog-- to get the latest updates on the MAMA Campaign, articles on Health Care Reform, and personal stories about how CPMs can be an integral part of quality maternity care. Link our blog to your Facebook, Twitter, and other networking site profiles with a simple click!

Please help us help you! Support the MAMA Campaign TODAY

HEARTFELT THANKS FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT!