State officials award $1 million to expand community birth centers in Massachusetts

BOSTON — State officials have awarded $1 million in grants to expand community birth centers, where midwives help expectant mothers with labor and delivery and postpartum care, across the state.

The money will be used to open community birthing centers in Boston and Worcester. Currently, Seven Sisters Midwifery Birth Center in Northampton is the only birth center operating in the state, state officials said.

The Department of Public Health awarded the Birth Center Capacity and Accessibility grants to Seven Sisters Midwifery Birth Center, Neighborhood Birth Center in Boston, and Worcester Community Midwifery Inc. in Worcester.

The money will “support the development and operation of birth centers by covering facility costs, start-up expenditures, and the provision of comprehensive prenatal and postpartum care,” Gov. Maura Healey said in a statement on Friday.

“We want Massachusetts to be the best and healthiest place in the world not just for some, but for all families, all women and all people in our state. Birth centers have a critical role to play in ensuring that women receive high-quality care each step of the way in their pregnancies,” Healey said. “We are proud to support these three organizations in their efforts to expand access to birth centers across the state.”

The grants, which will be used to expand the midwifery workforce statewide, prioritized areas in Massachusetts with the largest disparities in health across the board, officials said.

Worcester Community Midwifery will use the funds to refurbish a building and purchase equipment to open a birth center led by certified nurse-midwives, Healey said.

Neighborhood Birth Center in Boston will use the funds to build a community-based birth center in Roxbury.

Seven Sisters will use the funds to continue serving the families of Western Massachusetts.

Earlier this year, Healey signed into law a bill that overhauls maternal health practices in Massachusetts and expands coverage for midwifery, birth centers, doulas and screening and treatment for postpartum depression, among other initiatives.

Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said in a statement that the funding “complements our ongoing efforts to address inequities in maternal health care that disproportionately impact communities of color and rural communities.”

“Strengthening our reproductive health infrastructure will lead to better and more equitable health outcomes for birthing people across Massachusetts,” Driscoll said.

Birth centers are stand-alone facilities that provide labor and delivery by midwives and prenatal, postpartum, and newborn care for low-risk pregnancies.

State officials said research indicates that the birthing center model “is safe and improves maternal health outcomes including lower rates of cesarean deliveries compared to hospital births, as well as higher patient satisfaction and lower overall healthcare costs.”

Research also suggests that culturally competent birth centers reduce racial disparities in maternal morbidity and mortality, state officials said.

“Expanding birth center capacity in the state moves us forward in addressing systemic inequities in reproductive care,” Secretary of Health and Human Services Kate Walsh said in a statement. “Equitable, high-quality maternal health care, sadly, has not been a reality for far too many Massachusetts residents, especially in communities of color and in rural communities. This funding opens the door for more reproductive choices for residents.”

State public health officials have found that rates of severe maternal morbidity in Massachusetts had nearly doubled over the past decade and that these complications disproportionately impacted expectant mothers in the Black community and those with disabilities, officials said.

State officials said they created the Advancing Health Equity in Massachusetts initiative to combat health disparities in communities across the state.

In August, state officials awarded $10 million to 13 community-based organizations, including Neighborhood Birth Center and Seven Sisters Midwifery Birth Center, to support initiatives focused on postpartum depression care, post-miscarriage mental health care, midwifery services, assisted reproductive technology, and other related perinatal services, officials said.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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