Infant Mortality & the Governor's Plan

INFANT MORTALITY

The Governor announces plan to combat it 

“Ohio has one of the worst infant-mortality rates in the nation, and that is simply unacceptable,” Governor John Kasich said while speaking at the 2014 Ohio Infant Mortality Summit in Columbus. According to the Columbus Dispatch, Kasich announced his administration will build on local efforts and use state and federal funding to help lower Ohio's infant mortality rate.  New efforts announced by the Governor to better combat this crisis include:

• Identifying Areas With the Greatest Need: The Ohio Department of Health has identified “hot spot” communities where infant mortality is the highest in the state;
• Bringing New Care Strategies to At-Risk Moms: The Ohio Medicaid program will direct the managed health care organizations serving Medicaid recipients to automatically connect pregnant women and babies in the hot spot communities with high-risk care management benefits; and
• Connecting At-Risk Moms with Care: The Office of Health Transformation will work to identify and fund research based best-practice methods of group care for expecting mothers in both targeted urban and rural communities.

OACHC was proud to be a sponsor of the 2014 Ohio Infant Mortality Summit, where attendees were able to learn about Ohio’s infant mortality problem, why community involvement is important and ways to help reduce infant mortality.  If you were unable to attend the summit or would like the resources, the presentations and handouts from the summit will be available here. 

“We commend Governor Kasich for his commitment on this critical issue and his efforts to address it now. The need for change is tremendous and the timing must be immediate.” said Chief Operating Officer Julie DiRossi-King. “Governor Kasich recognizes the urgency and has the foresight to wait no longer. We look forward to continuing to work with the Kasich Administration and the Ohio General Assembly to implement initiatives now that will impact and reduce our infant mortality rate in the very near future. Together we will reach more first Ohio birthdays!”. The Board of Directors of the Ohio Association of Community Health Centers recently and unanimously voted to designate prenatal infant mortality a priority for the Association in the coming year. Read OACHC's press release on the matter here.

To view toolkits and useful information to help lower Ohio's infant mortality rate visit OACHC's Infant Mortality webpage.