2025 Maternal Health Virtual Summit
9:30 a.m. – 3 p.m. | Wednesday, April 2 | Register here
The 2025 Maternal Health Virtual Summit is produced by CHA’s Center for Clinical Leadership and Excellence with generous support from the Colorado Perinatal Care Quality Collaborative.
9:30 – 9:35 a.m. | Welcome and Opening Remarks
Rich Bottner, DHA, CHA Vice President, Clinical Excellence
9:35 – 10:35 a.m. | Opening Keynote: Maternal Health Outcomes in the U.S. and the Pathway to Improvement
Veronica Gillispie-Bell, MD, Board-Certified OBGYN and Associate Professor, Ochsner Health
The United States has the highest maternal mortality rate of any high-income country. While maternal mortality has continued to decline worldwide, outcomes are only getting worse in the United States. Learn the drivers of maternal mortality and the solutions to improve outcomes. (1.0 ACHE qualified credits)
10:35 – 11:05 a.m. | Maternal Health Innovations
Intermountain Health – OB Hub
Intermountain Health had a vision to expand safety for birthing patients across Colorado and Montana. As a result, the OB Hub was created. The OB Hub provides 24/7, real-time, remote monitoring of fetal heart rates, maternal vital signs, contractions, and labor progression for pregnant patients by qualified staff, as well as immediate communication to nursing staff if concerns are detected. The OB Hub Command Center clinicians use innovative technology to efficiently and effectively monitor up to 80 patients at multiple hospitals at one time. The OB Hub also strengthens communication and collaboration among care teams, supports newer nurses as they gain experience in providing care to laboring patients who may be in the early stages of experiencing complications, and addresses potential bedside nursing staff shortages.
Wray Community District Hospital – OB Case Management Program
Wray Community District Hospital had a vision to provide OB patients and their families with in-depth, robust prenatal and post-partum education and support in the hospital, clinic, and home settings. As a result of this vision, the OB Case Management Program was established. Education is provided through both online and in-person classes. The hospital also implemented a 24/7 help/question line, staffed by OB case managers and hospital nursing and clinic staff, which is available to all patients. The help/question line connects patients with hospital staff who provide answers to questions related to triage (determining if patients need to be seen in the emergency department vs. clinic), pregnancy, breastfeeding, newborn care and development, as well as support needed.
(0.50 ACHE qualified credits)
11:05 – 11:30 a.m. | Break
11:30 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. | Rural Maternity Care Access: Challenges and Opportunities
Katy Backes Kozhimannil, PhD, Distinguished McKnight University Professor, University of Minnesota
Rebecca Alderfer, Chief Executive Officer, Colorado Perinatal Care Quality Collaborative
This session will focus on maternal health in rural areas. It will describe maternal health disparities in U.S. rural communities, including declining access to obstetric care and the consequences of rural obstetric unit closures. It will discuss research on why hospitals close obstetric units and how communities overcome barriers to accessing maternity care. Finally, there will be a summary of the research and its implications for rural communities. (0.75 ACHE qualified credits)
12:15 – 12:45 p.m. | Maternal Health Innovations
Denver Health and Hospital Authority – Doula Program
Denver Health recognized that doulas provide positive impacts on health outcomes for peripartum patients and their infants. To support and increase patients’ access to doula care, the Denver Health Doula Program (DHDP) was developed and implemented. The program quickly moved from a volunteer-based doula program into an innovative, sustainable hospital-supported program. The DHDP program increases access to doula training to underrepresented community members through high-quality training programs.
Children’s Hospital Colorado – Black Health Initiative
Children’s Hospital Colorado is aware of the studies that verify that Black birthing patients and infants die at higher rates than other racial and ethnic groups, both in Colorado and across the nation. As a result, Children’s Colorado, in concert with community members and advocates, founded the Black Health Initiative to reduce maternal and infant mortality rates and to improve the birthing experience for people of color. This will soon be renamed to “The Dixon Focused Health Initiatives” starting in 2025, honoring Mrs. Jeannie Dixon, a now-retired colleague who led and implemented this work.
(0.50 ACHE qualified credits)
12:45 – 1 p.m. | Break
1 – 1:30 p.m. | Recommendations from Colorado’s Maternal Mortality Review Committee
Jonathan Hirshberg, MD, Associate Professor, Maternal-Fetal Medicine, CU Anschutz Medical Campus
The Colorado Maternal Mortality Review Committee (MMRC) is a statewide group of subject matter experts convened by CDPHE who meet regularly to perform detailed case analysis of every maternal death in the state. Based on this analysis, the committee formulates recommendations to improve outcomes and reduce mortality. In this session, MMRC member Dr. Jake Hirschberg will provide an overview of the committee’s recent work and recommendations specific to improving care and outcomes in Labor and Delivery units. (0.50 ACHE qualified credits)
1:30 – 2 p.m. | Fireside Chat: Ongoing Staff Training and Education
Moderator: Katie Breen, Vice President, Strategy and Quality, Colorado Perinatal Care Quality Collaborative, Panelists: Blake McLaughlin, DO, Chief Medical Officer, Banner Health; Amber Johnson, DNP, Director, Clinical Quality Improvement, Colorado Perinatal Care Quality Collaborative
Ongoing professional development for all clinical staff engaged in maternity care is critical to ensuring high-quality outcomes. This session will focus on best-practice approaches for ongoing professional development in all Labor and Delivery settings. (0.50 ACHE qualified credits)
2 – 2:45 p.m. | Panel Discussion: Safe Transfers
Moderator: Jessica Anderson, DNP, Director, Midwifery & Women’s Health Services, University of Colorado, College of Nursing, Panelists: Julia Amend, Midwife, Colorado Birth & Wellness; Danielle Frock-Welnak, MD, OBGYN, UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital; Heather Thompson, PhD, Deputy Director, Elephant Circle
The Colorado Safe Transfers Coalition is a collaborative effort of several statewide organizations and experts to improve handoffs and care for patients who are transferred from community birth settings to acute care hospitals while laboring. This panel discussion will include the coalition’s leadership and offer diverse, multidisciplinary perspectives on what is going well across Colorado and opportunities for improvement. (0.75 ACHE qualified credits)
2:45 – 3 p.m. | Wrap Up and Next Steps
Rich Bottner, DHA, CHA Vice President, Clinical Excellence
Who Should Attend: CMOs, CNOs, CQOs, OBs, midwives, nurses and nurse leaders, service line directors and managers, care coordinators, government relations and policy staff.
Registration: Registration fees are complimentary for CHA hospital and health system members, CHA associate partners, Maternal Mortality Review Committee members, and CDPHE Maternal Health Task Force members. The registration deadline is Friday, March 28.
Webinar Recording: A recording of the 2025 Maternal Health Virtual Summit will be available to all registrants after the event.
Questions? Contact Peggy McCreary, CHA senior education and events coordinator, at [email protected] or 720.330.6034.
Continuing Education Credits: By attending the 2025 Maternal Health Virtual Summit offered by the Colorado Hospital Association, participants may earn up to 4.50 ACHE qualified education hours toward initial certification or recertification of the Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE) designation.
Certificates of Attendance will be available upon request when completing the program evaluation.