November 19, 2024: Kate Gamble and Sarah Richardson as they uncover the impact of MCPAP for Moms, a program transforming support for mothers nationwide. With 20% of mothers facing mental health challenges during pregnancy and postpartum, this innovative program is bridging gaps by training healthcare providers to identify and address these issues more effectively. Can scalable, tech-driven mental health support really reshape the lives of millions? Discover the evolving role of digital health in maternal care, the economic implications, and why leaders in health IT should be paying close attention.
01:26 Patient Perspective on Maternal Mental Health
04:14 Technology and Maternal Mental Health
05:42 Advocacy and Future Directions
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Today in Health IT, we are discussing transforming maternal mental health. MCPAP for Moms expands nationwide. My name is Sarah Richardson. I'm a former CIO for several healthcare systems, most notably within HC and Optum, and now president of this week Health 229 Executive Development Community, where we host a set of channels and events dedicated to transforming healthcare for One connection at a time, and I am joined by Kate Gamble, Managing Editor here at This Week Health.
Kate, welcome to the show. Thanks, Sarah. All right, so today we are discussing Transforming Maternal Mental Health. MCPAT for Moms expands nationwide, and this is about maternal mental health posing a substantial economic burden estimated at 14 billion annually, particularly during pregnancy and the postpartum period.
Response, the Massachusetts Child Psychiatry Access Program, MCPAP for Moms, was created to assist health care providers in addressing the mental health needs of mothers.
This was established in:Recent discussions at the Behavioral Health Tech Conference highlighted its growth and influence, with over 30 similar initiatives launched nationwide, largely driven by advocates like Jamie Zalaway Belsito. Kate, tell me more about this article. Sure. So this is one that sits pretty close to my heart. So I'm going to provide the patient's perspective.
If you look at MCPAP4MOMS website, it says that at least one in five women experience mental health or substance use disorder during pregnancy or in the first year of postpartum. That's a big number, 20%. And one of the biggest issues is that a lot of women either don't have the resources to seek help or don't know how to go about doing it.
They may not even realize that what they're experiencing is postpartum depression or anxiety. New moms can be so overwhelmed and sleep deprived at the six week follow up that they don't know if what they're going through is normal and will go away on its own, or if it's something that can be treated. And that's where physician visits come in. But a lot of physician practices are still using the Edinburgh postnatal depression screen, in which you're given a series of statements that don't necessarily make a lot of sense.
And for example, I had to look this up. One of them was, I have been able to laugh and see the funny side of things. Most of the time, sometimes, or never. I don't even know if I can answer that now. I'm not sure what that means. And another one was, I have been anxious unnecessarily when things go wrong.
Always, sometimes, or not at all. That is a really tricky question to answer for a new parent, because Being anxious seems like it's, par for the course. So having a tool that helps providers identify mental health issues without using this type of questionnaire and facilitate care coordination and provide resources to patients so they can get help, it would make an enormous difference.
So I'm really interested in this but of course, I guess we need to get into, really what this means for the CIO. Especially too, and I love your perspective as having been a new mom with twins in the NICU. You think about all the things that were happening in your life at the time, and I love that you keep bringing this conversation forward, because even if the provider training is focusing on training healthcare providers to screen, consult, and refer women to mental health support during pregnancy and postpartum, being able to just admit That any of those answers to those questions that you shared are true and still feeling like you are showing up as a good version of yourself or don't have a stigma attached to having to be the perfect mom or the perfect parent, especially that first time out of the gate.
There is so much anxiety that goes with not only just having a baby, but keeping yourself healthy and feeling like you're in control of what is happening because that's our nature to solve and fix and be in control of things and there is never a time where you're probably more out of quote unquote control than when you are bringing a new human into the world.
Yeah, exactly. And I like that what this program does is underscores the value of scalable low cost initiatives that leverage technology to address pressing healthcare needs. And by incorporating technology to expand maternal health, Programs, CIOs can enhance service accessibility, reduce costs and support better outcomes for vulnerable patient populations.
And that's a big part of this too, because we're talking about a lot of people that don't have the resources or the time or the ability to seek help and making this easier is going to benefit the health system as well.
Absolutely. You think about scaling technology and mental health service. How digital platforms and telehealth can support expansion of mental health services for underserved populations. I think that touches on the things that you and I are constantly bringing up. Expansion of care, telehealth, access, equity, etc.
It gets the press that it does because it's still such a need in our environment. And if you can think about the impact of low cost programs. Discussing the benefits, cost effective healthcare models like this program can be replicated and are in over 30 locations. I do still lean into the provider training and how they can help us screen and refer and address service gaps without adding a bunch of cost to the system.
And then, Even though we often talk about healthcare being local, really understanding that policy component. If you have advocacy from leaders with personal experience in maternal mental health, it can be instrumental in securing funding and support for program expansion. Yeah, absolutely. I think a lot of people are willing to share their stories, especially once they know it can make an impact.
And the fact that there even is a behavioral health tech conference is so encouraging to me. Just for the possibilities of, being able to leverage technology, leverage resources to get better treatment of these, of mental health issues and, make headway in something that can cost, like you said, as much as 14 billion annually.
And that's just one component of mental health. It is, and you look at a program like this, MC PAP, it can provide comprehensive maternal mental health support for only 14 per woman annually. You really start to wrap that around the patient centric advocacy that we talk about in healthcare.
The personal experiences of leaders like Byatt and Belcido, they drive innovation and policy change. They drive down the cost because of the ability to create programs that are attainable in these organizations. And I think about being a CIO and challenges of system integration. If you are examining the need for cross functional collaboration in healthcare to create seamless, interconnected systems for comprehensive patient care at a lower cost, that's a win.
And yet, as we've been discussing, All these pieces have to come together and be made aware of from something that's already working, maybe in this case. Yeah, absolutely. I'm going to be following this along, really curious to see how it continues It already has. This is a really big win, and I'm encouraged by it.
Yes, especially since You and I have covered in the past that there are programs that are closing, either to demand, to cost structure, etc. If you have a service line that is closing, and yet this is a line of business that can be available to you or available to patients to refer into, then you're still giving that service to patients that is needed in a way that truly meets them where they are.
And I'll give one more plug for ending the stigma for talking about these things, getting it out in the open. And, as we usually realize that there's a lot of people who have the same experiences or similar experiences and the more people are willing to be open, the closer we get to solving some of these.
Yes. Definite plug for advocacy. And thank you for always being willing to share your journey as a mom, because I know it resonates with so many of our listeners. Yeah. I'm happy to. Remember to share this podcast with a friend or a colleague. Use it as a foundation for daily or weekly discussions 📍 on the topics that are relevant to you and the industry.
They can subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Kate, thanks as always for joining me. Thank you. Thanks for listening. That's all for now.