Updates to Colorado's Maternal and Child Health Priorities
By: Rachel Hutson, Title V MCH Director and Lyz Sanders, Deputy Director
The Colorado Maternal and Child Health (MCH) program is committed to continuously improving the health and well-being of women, children, and families across the state. To ensure that our efforts remain focused and responsive to evolving needs, we regularly engage in quality improvement, which includes updating our priorities and associated measures towards success.
Refining Priorities
Based on input received from the MCH state strategy summit (held in January), subject matter experts, and in anticipation of potential changes to the federal MCH Block Grant guidance, the MCH leadership team has made key adjustments to several priority areas. A significant change involves consolidating the priorities of Reducing Racial Inequities in Healthcare Delivery (RRI) and Increase Social Emotional Wellbeing (ISSEW) into a new, unified priority named “Perinatal Wellbeing.” This consolidation is based on the similarity and alignment of the strategies for the two priorities that were identified through the state planning process that center on the perinatal population.
In addition to this change, we are shifting housing from a strategy within the Built Environment action plan to be one of the seven MCH priorities. This decision acknowledges the critical role that safe, stable, and affordable housing plays in the health of families and children and aligns with the collective input received through the needs assessment.
Detailed Overview of Updated Priorities and Strategies
To provide a clearer picture of the changes, here's a visual that summarizes the shift from current to new priorities and the associated NPMs. We are considering this our current working draft that may require additional adjustments once we receive the final grant guidance for the Title V MCH Block Grant.
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