US Maternal Mortality Rate Dipped Again In 2024, CDC Data Indicate
Black women — with 44.8 deaths per 100,000 live births — and those aged 40 and older — with 62.3 deaths per 100,000 live births — had the highest mortality rates, according to CDC data. The 2024 U.S. maternal mortality rate is the lowest it has been since 2018.
ABC News:
Maternal Mortality Rate In The US Declines To Its Lowest Since 2018: CDC
Maternal mortality rates in the United States have dropped to their lowest levels in recent years, according to new data published on Thursday. The report, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics, compared maternal deaths in 2023 and 2024, with maternal deaths defined as the death of a woman during pregnancy or within 42 days of pregnancy termination. In 2024, 649 women died of maternal causes in the U.S., with a rate of 17.9 deaths per 100,000 births, according to the report. (Kekatos, 3/3)
Healthcare Dive:
AMA Creates New Maternity Care Coding System
The American Medical Association is overhauling how U.S. doctors report and bill for pregnancy services, bulldozing the current system of bundled payments and replacing it with more granular, itemized codes next year. The changes, shared exclusively with Healthcare Dive, could help improve poor maternity health outcomes in the U.S. But it’s also an acquiescence to specialty groups, which have long lobbied the powerful medical association that modern obstetric services are more complex than the current coding system is able to reflect. (Pifer Parduhn, 3/2)
AP:
Black Fathers Train As Doulas To Help Address Racial Disparities In Maternal Health
Cradling his newborn daughter in his lap in their Indianapolis home, JaKobi Burton’s love for the new lady in his life is evident with each caress. The first-time dad’s commitment started months earlier. Burton attended every medical appointment and took classes with Dads to Doulas, a program created by the organization Dear Fathers that teaches Black fathers-to-be how to provide physical, mental and spiritual support up to and after childbirth. (Tang and Lamy, 2/27)
KFF Health News:
Listen To The Latest 'KFF Health News Minute'
Sam Whitehead reads the week’s news: Some places are bringing back house calls to try to fight maternal and infant mortality, and almost all Americans benefit from health care subsidies in different forms. (Cook, 3/3)
Also —
The Wall Street Journal:
Babies’ Gut Health Is The New Obsession For Parents—And Startups
When Brittany Allen takes her 17-month-old son to her sister’s house to play, she heads straight for the big pile of dirt in the backyard. For his health. When Leonidas was just a month old, he was fussy and often constipated. He wasn’t gaining enough weight. Allen had a test run on her infant’s gut microbiome—the collection of bacteria and other microorganisms that inhabit the digestive tract. (Petersen, 3/3)
