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Addressing Maternal Mortality in Medicaid by Focusing on Mental Health
On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with Inland Empire Health Plan, a managed care plan serving more than 1.4 million residents on Medi-Cal in California, about a new maternal mental health program aimed at supporting new mothers, both before they give birth and afterward.
Mental health issues and substance use disorder are some of the contributing factors to America’s high maternal mortality rates, in addition to poverty, racism, and lack of access to adequate health care. Last year, the CDC reported that suicide accounts for 9% of the maternal mortality rate 1 year postpartum. Anxiety, perinatal and postpartum depression, and birth-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are the most common complications of pregnancy and childbirth, affecting 1 in 5 individuals, and for those affected, 75% do not get treatment. Women of color are both more likely to experience these conditions and less likely to seek help.
On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with Heather Waters, LCSW who leads the maternal health and children’s health services team at Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP), a managed care plan serving more than 1.4 million residents on Medi-Cal in California.
She tells us about a new maternal mental health program at IEHP aimed at supporting new mothers, both before they give birth and afterward.
Subjective and Objective Impacts of Ambulatory AI Scribes
January 8th 2026Although the vast majority of physicians using an artificial intelligence (AI) scribe perceived a reduction in documentation time, those with the most actual time savings had higher relative baseline levels of documentation time.
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Telehealth Intervention by Pharmacists Collaboratively Enhances Hypertension Management and Outcomes
January 7th 2026Patient interaction and enhanced support with clinical pharmacists significantly improved pass rates for a measure of controlling blood pressure compared with usual care.
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