By: Tara Britton, Director of Policy | Natasha Takyi-Micah, Public Policy & External Affairs Associate Progress continues on doula certification and Medicaid coverage. A new doula provider type has been created in the Medicaid system, and later this year doulas will be able to engage with Medicaid managed care organizations to formally become providers in...
Doula certification and Medicaid coverage plan finally in development
By: Brandy Davis, Fellow, Medicaid Policy Tara Britton, Director of Public Policy and Advocacy | Edward D. and Dorothy E. Lynde Fellow The state of Ohio continues to move toward increased access to doula services. Last week, the Ohio Department of Medicaid (ODM) and the Ohio Board of Nursing co-hosted a webinar focused on the...
Who receives adequate prenatal care in Ohio, and who doesn’t?
Five years of Ohio birth records reveals a stark reality about prenatal care inadequacies in Ohio, especially for uninsured, BIPOC, or undereducated patients. Access to prenatal care is important for birthing healthy babies and it’s a priority area that The Center for Community Solutions is regularly writing, and writing, and researching, and writing, (and still...
5 Things coming from Community Solutions in 2024
We finished 2023 strong, poised to leverage the growing support of our local foundations and funders to continue, deepen, and grow our work. Check out just a few of our plans for 2024. 1. Love our community fact sheets? Get ready for more! Thanks to generous support from The Cleveland Foundation, Community Solutions will build...
Status of Women: High rates of health care coverage in Ohio, maternal health challenges remain
In our new release of Status of Women, we see the Ohio health insurance coverage rate is 95%. This is almost entirely thanks to Ohio’s decision to expand Medicaid in 2014 and the Affordable Care Act. Clearly, policy changes like this can make an enormous, positive difference in people’s lives. While overall, access and care...
Status of Women: More Ohio women with children working but also more likely to live in poverty
Access to economic resources is a critical component of stability, health, wellness, and agency. Historically, the distribution of economic resources is tied to distribution of power. This legacy of inequality is one of the reasons it is important to continue to monitor and report on the economic status of women. The 2023 Status of Women...
Ohio public policy developments we’re grateful for
By: Staff, Public Policy We are excited to share our inaugural blog post on what we are thankful for…the policy edition. We often share updates on health and human services policies, but they aren’t always positive. With this blog, we focused on a few of (but not all) the policy developments that help move Ohio...
Climate change’s impact on food security and maternal health
Social and other external factors have been linked to 25-60 percent of deaths in the United States in any given year. It is of utmost importance to study the “causes of the causes” of death and to examine maternal mortality holistically and to examine the impacts that the social and physical environment has on maternal...
Apply Now for the Ohio Board of Nursing’s Doula Advisory Board
In July 2023, the 135th General Assembly passed House Bill 33, which authorizes the Ohio Board of Nursing to regulate the certification of doulas, through the creation of a doula advisory board. Doulas are professionals trained to provide non-medical, emotional, and physical support throughout a woman’s pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum. The doula advisory board will...
New report finds more than 70 percent of pregnancy-related deaths were preventable
Last week the Ohio Department of Health released the latest report on maternal mortality in Ohio, A Report on Pregnancy-Related Deaths in Ohio 2017-2018. There is a lot to unpack in the report and we’ll spend more time with the details in the coming weeks. However, we identified some key data points that should be...