Frederick Health participating in initiative meant to improve health of mothers, infants

Nov. 12—Frederick Health announced earlier this week it will be participating in an initiative with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services where it will test interventions and protocols aiming to reduce preventable deaths and complications among mothers and infants.

The department's Perinatal Improvement Collaborative — overseen by the HHS Office on Women's Health — encompasses over 200 hospitals in all 50 states. Under the program, Frederick Health will take part in generating solutions for safer obstetric and neonatal care that ultimately will be implemented nationwide, according to a Wednesday press release from the health care system.

"Ensuring that we provide the most up to date, proactive care to mothers and infants is extremely important," Patricia Reggio, a women's health navigator with Frederick Health, said in the press release. "By partnering with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services we are taking part in a national conversation on the best practices and standards."

Frederick Health has helped birth 2,723 babies in the last year, according to the release.

In the press release, Dr. Dorothy Fink, director of the Office on Women's Health, said if hospitals can standardize quality care for women during pregnancy and after they give birth, they can change the "current trajectory of maternal and infant death."

"When mothers have better health, we create better opportunities for infants and the larger community to have better health," she said. "I'm excited this collaboration will help us fulfill the HHS Maternal Health Action Plan and vision that our nation is the safest for women to give birth."

Follow Angela Roberts on Twitter: @24_angier

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