Independence Blue Cross (Independence) is collaborating with Cayaba Care, a holistic maternity support services program, to provide home-based care to at-risk expectant mothers.
Pregnancy-related mortality in the United States has tripled in the last 30 years, and Black women are three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy- or childbirth-related causes than white women. Philadelphia reports a maternal mortality rate of 27.4 deaths per 100,000 live births, and Black mothers are twice as likely to die within one year of childbirth in Philadelphia.
As part of our Health Equity strategy and goal to reduce racial disparities in severe maternal morbidity by 50 percent by 2025, Independence is collaborating with Cayaba Care to address disparities in maternal outcomes by:
- Building a care team to achieve better racial concordance between patients and their support team
- Providing Maternity Navigator support in the home during prenatal and postpartum periods
- Developing risk stratification algorithms that incorporate demographic data and are not solely dependent on claims data
- Implementing evidence-based guidelines that are proven to be effective in improving conditions that disproportionately drive poor maternity outcomes in Black and Brown communities
To participate in the program, patients must meet the following criteria:
- Fully Insured Commercial plan members of Independence and its affiliates who reside in the Pennsylvania counties of Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia, and in contiguous New Jersey counties, who have been continuously enrolled in the plan for at least three months
- Pregnant persons ages 18-45 with medium to high-risk pregnancies and at least one of the following:
- Identified by an Independence in-network provider;
- Identified through proprietary risk stratification algorithms;
- Obtained medical treatment, including emergency department visits during current pregnancy and prior 12 months or inpatient admission in prior 12 months;
- Identified and recommended from in-network obstetric provider via EMR; or
- Identified and recommended by an Independence Baby BluePrintsÒ Case Manager.
Learn more about Cayaba Care by visiting their website. To refer a patient to Cayaba Care, please complete their online referral form.