Innovations

CareSource Responds to White House Maternal Health Day of Action

December 7th, 2021 | 3 min read

White house

On the first-ever White House Maternal Health Day of Action, Vice President Kamala Harris issued a nationwide Call to Action to Reduce Maternal Mortality and Morbidity. The White House reports America’s maternal mortality rates are among the highest in the developed world and the maternal health crisis is particularly devastating for Black and Native American women. Black women are more than three times as likely to die from pregnancy-related complications as white women, and Native American women are more than twice as likely, regardless of their income or education.

CareSource, a nationally recognized nonprofit health plan, and Lyft, one of the largest non-emergency medical transportation providers in the U.S., are making a multi-year commitment to collecting, studying and measuring the impact of non-traditional interventions on maternal health.

As part of the Biden-Harris Maternal Health Call to Action, today, CareSource and Lyft announced they will be leveraging their partnership for new/expecting mothers to conduct deep-dive analysis on the positive impact that safe, reliable transportation has on healthy pregnancies. The companies will measure the effects of the access to rides they provide to healthcare appointments and other maternity-related services, such as to grocery stores, pharmacies and educational classes. They will leverage the data collected to continuously improve the healthcare experience for maternal and newborn care throughout the industry.

We envision a world where all moms and babies have access to high quality care and partnerships between leaders like CareSource and Lyft will make an impact on health disparities and maternal mortality one member at a time. Watch the story of CareSource member Alexus to see how this partnership has removed barriers for her and enabled her to get to medical appointments for both herself and her young son.

CareSource and Lyft: Driving Access to Health Care from CareSource on Vimeo.

CareSource has been a pioneer in addressing social determinants of health, developing innovative programs to assist members in overcoming barriers. Beyond making it convenient for expectant and new moms to get to their critical pre- and post-natal appointments, CareSource expanded transportation benefit to include other locations that enable health such as the pharmacy, the grocery store, WIC offices and other safety net programs.

CareSource has a long history of creating innovations that support maternal health across the nation beyond transportation, CareSource funds scholarship programs for BIOPIC Doulas, investigates how housing affects maternal health and provides care management for members like Teresa in the video below.

Georgia Mission Moment - Teresa from CareSource on Vimeo.