Spotlight on MACa Coalition Partners
Sac Bee and California Health Line spotlight California midwives whose birth centers have closed due to unnecessarily onerous regulations.
In this article, birth centers that have closed due to unnecessarily onerous regulations and dysfunctional licensing processes, are highlighted, including MACa coalition partners Bethany Sasaki, CNM (Midtown Birth Center) and Caroline Cusenza, LM (Monterey Birth & Wellness Center), both of whom closed their birth centers when the costs of remodeling to achieve unnecessary state licensure requirements became to costly. Partnership Health Plan (also a MACa coalition partner) and the “Plumas Model” were mentioned in this article. Click the image to learn more.
Photo: Caroline Cusenza. LM, and a client at Monterey Birth & Wellness Center before the birth center permanently closed.
Assembly Member Bonta introduces a bill to remove barriers to birth center licensure in California.
Dec 2, 2024. Assembly Member Bonta introduced AB-55, a bill to streamline licensure and remove the significant barriers that have plagued freestanding birth center licensure in CA for decades. Licensure will open doors to facility reimbursement and, thus, the sustainability of these much-needed care centers. This bill is sponsored by MACa coalition organizations: Western Center on Law & Poverty, the California Nurse-Midwives Association, and the California affiliate of the American Association of Birth Centers. Click the image to learn more.
The New York Times spotlights rural maternity unit closures across the nation and highlights Plumas District Hospital and its goal of opening a midwife-led freestanding birth center to fill the access gap
Dec 4, 2024. Sarah Kliff, health reporter for the NYT reports on a study in JAMA about rural maternity unit closures across the US, noting that most rural hospitals have closed their maternity units, and 1/3 of urban hospitals have closed their units – a devastating blow to community safety and access. Plumas District Hospital, in Plumas County CA, hopes to open a midwife-led freestanding birth center to step into the breach. This endeavor in Plumas is being championed by Partnership Health Plan, a health plan partner of Midwifery Access California. Click the image to learn more.
CalMatters reports on CA Assembly Member Bonta’s new bill to improve freestanding birth center licensure in order to ensure birth center sustainability
Dec 2, 2024. In this article, CalMatters reporter Kristin Hwang reports on the difficulties in achieving licensure for freestanding birth centers in California, creating an almost de facto ban on birth centers. Licensure is a key part of receiving facility reimbursement from payors – without out freestanding birth centers struggle to make ends meet. Assembly Member Bonta is authoring this bill and it is co-sponsored by a Midwifery Access California partner – the Western Center on Law and Poverty (among others, including the California Nurse-Midwives Association and the California affiliate of the American Association of Birth Centers). Click the image to learn more.
LAist reports on UCSF’s decision to close its Master’s program for nurse-midwives and the one remaining Master’s program at Cal State Fullerton
Sept 18, 2024. In this article, MACa coalition members report on the real-world consequences of UCSF’s decision to move to a doctoral-only program for nurse-midwives.
Click the photo to read the article, or click below to listen to the article’s audio featured on NPR. MACa members Angela Sojobi, CNM and Liz Donnelly, CNM are featured as speakers.
Also featured on Marketplace on Nov 22, 2024. Click below
Photo: Dr. Angela Sojobi, CNM, teaching a Cal State Fullerton midwifery student
Cal Matters releases story about birth center closures in California.
Aug 26, 2024. Coalition members from Midwifery Access California tell their stories of loss as birth centers around the state close and birthing people lose access to maternity and reproductive health services. Click image for more.
Midwifery Access California will also be presenting a live webinar on September 10, 2024, in partnership with the National Health Law Program, to discuss the impact of these closures and the work of Midwifery Access California to save birth centers and midwifery access. Click the webinars tab for more on this series.
California Health Line releases story about UCSF’s decision to cancel its master’s program for nurse-midwives amid maternal health access crisis.
In this article, California Health Line reporter Ronnie Cohen interviews MACa coalition members Liz Donnelly, CNM, and Kim Dau, CNM and former UCSF midwifery education program director, on the projected impact of UCSF’s decision to cancel its master’s program for Nurse-Midwives in favor of a pricier, longer doctoral program. Click image for more.
The Institute for Medicaid Innovation releases its report on team California!
Aug 28, 2024.
Team California is the final case study in our inspiring Midwifery Learning Collaborative series.
In 2021, the Institute for Medicaid Innovation (IMI) launched the national Medicaid and Midwifery Learning Collaborative, an intensive, three-year initiative, led by IMI and funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
Five state-based teams - Arizona, California, Kentucky, Michigan, and Washington - were selected from a competitive application process. California’s state-based team is IMI’s Midwifery Learning Collaborative’s largest, starting with 30 members in 2021 and ending the three-year journey with 51, and a retention rate of original members that exceeded 80%.
The California team consistently encouraged a “dream big” mindset for their work. They applied this thinking to tackle one of the biggest issues in Medicaid: inadequate reimbursement. Together, they created a completely unique midwifery payment model. Click the image to learn more.
Please also check out the other inspiring case studies in this series. Read about how Team Kentucky, Team Washington, Team Michigan and Team Arizona are working to improve birth outcomes.
KQED Forum presents “Maternity Deserts on the Rise in California.”
In this broadcast about maternity deserts in California and the worsening problem of maternity unit closures in California, MACa coalition member Holly Smith, CNM, discusses the potential for midwives as a strategy to fill access gaps. Click image for more.
Cal Matters releases story on how California policies keep midwives out of business.
Midwifery Access California coalition member, Madeleine Wisner, LM, is profiled in this story about efforts to improve midwife-led care in Medi-Cal, and the difficulties encountered by midwives at every turn. Click image for more.
