• Center on Health Equity & Access
  • Clinical
  • Health Care Cost
  • Health Care Delivery
  • Insurance
  • Policy
  • Technology
  • Value-Based Care

Addressing Maternal Mortality in Medicaid by Focusing on Mental Health

Podcast

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.

iTunes
TuneIn
Stitcher
Spotify

Related Videos
Frederick L Locke, MD, Moffitt
Sam Peasah, PhD, MBA, RPh, director for the Center of High-Value Health Care at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC)
Pierluigi Porcu, MD
Kimberly Westrich, MA, chief strategy officer, NPC
Image credit: Medical technology and futuristic concept. Doctor hologram modern virtual screen interface | SOMKID - stock.adobe.com
Erin Weber, MS
JC Scott, CEO and president of The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA)
Marla Black Morgan, MD, Phoebe Neurology Associates
Elizabeth Grush, MBA
Related Content
© 2025 MJH Life Sciences
AJMC®
All rights reserved.