Integrated teams improve care in high-risk pregnancies

Health systems and hospitals should have integrated care teams led by a complex care coordinator to provide services for women with high-risk pregnancies, according to Sean Daneshmand, MD, medical director at Scripps Clinic in San Diego. In a HealthLeaders Media interview, Daneshmand offered health systems advice on how to improve care in high-risk pregnancies. A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association released earlier this week found racial and ethnic disparities in postpartum care widened following the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study also found that postpartum care access recovered more slowly among Black and Hispanic women compared with white women. In addition, data from Philadelphia showed more new parents, particularly Black mothers, are dying in the weeks and months after they give birth, as medical attention shifts from the mother to the baby.