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Snigdha Banda (‘20)
Eshaan Patel (‘20)
David Yang (‘20)
Rice University
Policy Initiatives Targeting Maternal Morbidity & Death:
The Women’s Health Community Collaborative and National Paid Family Leave
Policy Initiatives Targeting Maternal Morbidity & Death:
The Women’s Health Community Collaborative and National Paid Family Leave
Maternal mortality has reached unprecedented levels in the United States. The trend is
concerning especially because nearly half of all maternal deaths are preventable. Factors
contributing to maternal death include high rates of heart disease, diabetes, obesity, hypertension,
and depression. Existing data shows that improving the overall health of women and reducing the
childbearing burden on women and their families would contribute to a reduction in maternal
death. Consequently, our team proposes the adoption of two new evidence-based federal
policies: the Women’s Health Community Collaborative (WHCC) and National Paid Family
Leave. The WHCC will serve as a federally funded community initiative that extends access to
pregnancy-related services, aids with management of chronic disease, and improves behavioral
health of Medicaid-eligible women of all reproductive ages. The framework for the WHCC
includes teams of healthcare professionals from an implementing agency leading weekly
community meetings focused on education and peer support groups. WHCC will be funded
federally through the Affordable Care Act’s existing State and Community Grants and by the
implementing agency during its pilot phase. Unlike existing federal initiatives, WHCC
emphasizes longitudinal care, provides care between pregnancies instead of only in the prenatal
and postpartum periods, and is a cost-effective model that reduces reliance on emergency
hospital services and public assistance. Secondly, in order to allow women to recover from the
taxing act of childbearing, a national paid family leave program following the framework of the
current campaign for the Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act is proposed. This proposal
will be funded by a marginal increase in employee-side payroll tax and will dispense benefits for
12 weeks to all workers, regardless of gender. National paid family leave has shown to improve
maternal health in the postpartum period, primarily by mitigating chronic disease, reducing
psychological and emotional stress, and increasing financial independence. By shifting focus from
pregnancy-centered care to longitudinal care and reducing the burden of simultaneous
childbearing and income-earning, the WHCC and national paid family confer positive effects on
women’s health and, in the long term, lead to a reduction in maternal death.
I. Introduction to Maternal Morbidity and Death in the United States
Maternal mortality is on the rise in the United States. From 1990 to 2013, the maternal
mortality rate has more than doubled , placing the US 47th globally for maternal death . Most 1 2
importantly, nearly half of all maternal deaths in the US have been ruled preventable. Texas in 3
particular has been ranked as having the highest maternal mortality rate in the developed world.
The doubled increase in maternal death in Texas from 2010 to 2013 has been ruled as extremely
unusual “in the absence of war, natural disaster, or severe economic upheaval.”1
The high maternal mortality rate nationwide has been attributed to a host of factors.
While data collection has improved over the years, researchers state that better recordkeeping
could not be the sole cause for the increase. The official leading cause of maternal death in US
hospitals is cardiovascular disease . In fact, thirty percent of all maternal deaths are attributed to 4
chronic disease, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, and depression. Such 5
medical conditions increase risk of complications during pregnancy and subsequent morbidity
and mortality.5
Access to healthcare is another issue. Nearly half of all counties in the US lack an
obstetrician-gynecologist, and hospitals in low-income areas are overcrowded and understaffed. 6
Seventeen percent of mothers surveyed in thirty states reported being unable to access prenatal
care as early as desired. Delayed prenatal care has shown to increase the risk of maternal death 7
by three to four times.7 Additionally, in the postpartum period, only one visit to a health provider
is covered by health plans unless in the case of a complication, ultimately increasing the chances
of hemorrhage and infection. 8
Thus, main factors contributing to the high mortality rates nationwide include poor
chronic disease prevention and management, lack of access to services, and provision of poor
quality care in low-income areas. The Women’s Health Community Collaborative and the
Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act aim to reduce the childbearing burden and target
women’s health issues that are at the forefront of increased pregnancy-related mortality risk, in
an effort to eventually curb the incidence of maternal death.
II. Policy #1: The Women’s Health Community Collaborative
A. Introduction: Existing Policy and Inadequacies
In 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act brought into effect the Federal
Home Visiting Program, creating the nationally acclaimed Nurse Family Partnership (NFP)
among other home visiting models. The NFP provides weekly home visits by professional nurses
for Medicaid-eligible mothers before the 28th week of pregnancy until the child is of two years. 9
The program increases direct, individualized care for at risk-women, and is one of the main
federal initiatives that directly expands women’s access to health services. Thus, in order to
propose more comprehensive and effective policy, the benefits and inadequacies of the NFP will
be addressed.
First, while the NFP provides prenatal, perinatal, and postpartum services,
interconception care, or the services provided between pregnancies, is absent. The CDC has
recommended interconception care as crucial to mitigating chronic disease, considering thirty
percent of all maternal deaths in the US are attributed to chronic disease.5 Diabetes,
hypertension, and depression, the most common chronic diseases for women of reproductive age,
increase the risk for a host of pregnancy-related complications and subsequent morbidity and
mortality.5 This data indicates the need for care that targets chronic disease and improves the
overall health of women rather than solely pregnancy-centered care, as is the focus of the NFP.
Additionally, several maternal health outcomes have been unaddressed by the NFP. While
NFP trials have proven effective in reducing women’s subsequent births and prenatal smoking
and positively impacting child development, the program has shown to have no effects on
maternal weight gain, blood pressure, substance abuse, depression, and anxiety. These 10
conditions are high impact measures for predicting pregnancy outcomes, and the need to manage
them is urgent and significant. In 2013, nearly half of all pregnant women were overweight or
obese, and while 1 in 9 pregnant women experienced depression, only half received treatment. 11
Currently, there is an absence of policy that shifts the focus from singular interventions during
the time of pregnancy to longitudinal care that improves the overall health of all women of
reproductive age.
In the last decade, healthcare professionals have begun spearheading maternal health
coalitions in their communities to improve health-related behaviors of low-income women of
reproductive age and consequently reduce the risk of complications during pregnancy. The
success of these initiatives in increasing access to pregnancy-centered services for entire
communities while improving the overall health of low-income women calls for legislation that
funds and integrates such programs into the maternal healthcare system on a national level.
B. Evidence in support of a Women’s Health Community Collaborative
A literature review of previous maternal health programs shows community-based
initiatives to be particularly effective in improving pregnancy outcomes and the overall health of
women. The Northern Manhattan Perinatal Partnership (NMPP), a non-profit in New York, has
convened medical facilities and health centers to provide “comprehensive health and social
services and programs to women during pregnancy, childbirth, adolescence, and to women over
35.” NMPP, by educating women on chronic disease management, has been instrumental in 12
improving perinatal health outcomes and reducing disparities in women’s overall health. 13
Another program run by the Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, Texas, by providing
neighborhood-based services for inner city pregnant women, has reduced preterm births for
Hispanic and African-American women, a high impact perinatal measure. Additionally, a 14
randomized controlled trial has shown group prenatal care, integrating family, peer support, and
education, to be successful in reducing preterm births. 15
The findings from these programs point to three important conclusions. First,
community-based initiatives connect women to the larger healthcare system and increase
awareness and use of pregnancy-related services. Second, education-based interventions in
group settings, such as NMPP and group prenatal care can improve high impact pregnancy
measures and overall pregnancy outcomes. Most importantly, a life-course model that aims to
improve the overall health of all women from adolescence to over 35, such as the NMPP, has
shown to reduce the levels of chronic disease, improve health-related behaviors, and
decrease reliance on emergency-based services. The success of these ongoing initiatives as well
as 16 previous community-based interventions that used “outreach, family-community, and
facility-based clinical care” point to the potential effectiveness of a Women’s Health Community
Collaborative. 16
C. Design: The Women’s Health Community Collaborative
In order to address the increasing rates of maternal mortality and chronic disease
nationwide, an ongoing education-based community initiative that provides pregnancy-related
services and preventative care measures for Medicaid-eligible women in group settings is
proposed and titled the Women’s Health Community Collaborative (WHCC). The WHCC will
be funded through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and implemented at the state level by
participating agencies; the program will operate in conjunction with other existing federal
initiatives such as the NFP. Unlike the NFP and other federal initiatives, however, WHCC will
place a greater emphasis on improving maternal health and reducing mortality through high
impact pregnancy measures and include the added outcome of improving the overall health of
women from adolescence past the age of 35. The specific targets include extending access to
prenatal and postpartum care services, aiding with management and prevention of chronic
disease, and improving behavioral health.
In the basic design, the WHCC head organization created through federal funds will
develop an evidence-based curriculum and designate regions of high maternal mortality
nationwide, in an effort to encourage hospitals in the area to become participating agencies and
implement the program. Teams of healthcare professionals, including nurses, dieticians,
behavioral health counselors, and medical assistants, from the participating agency will then
conduct weekly visits to central locations (ie. community center) in the low-income
neighborhood and meet with a group of 20-30 Medicaid-eligible women who have enrolled in
the program. The teams will lead one-to-two hour meetings focused on education and peer
support discussions. The focus of these meetings will be to provide information on chronic
disease prevention and management, improve health-related behaviors, provide prenatal and
postpartum-related information, increase awareness of surrounding services, especially in the
area of mental health, and facilitate peer-to-peer discussion and support.
The WHCC model of weekly community meetings has shown to be effective in the past
in managing chronic disease and improving pregnancy outcomes. In 2000, Project Dulce,
implemented by the San Diego County, aimed to manage chronic disease in a low-income
Hispanic neighborhood through teams of nurses, diabetes educators, medical assistants,
dieticians, and peer educators. Through an eight-week curriculum of classes, the teams were able
to improve HbA1C, blood pressure, total cholesterol, and LDL-C, and reduce patients’ visits to
emergency departments. Another population-based studying in Quebec confirmed the potential 17
of community education in improving pregnancy outcomes, and showed discussion and
counseling to be associated with fewer pregnancy-related deaths. The mechanisms of education 18
and peer support in WHCC community meetings have also shown successful in improving high
impact pregnancy outcomes, in ongoing community coalitions and sixteen community-based
initiatives discussed previously.
Participants for the WHCC will be recruited through their visits to a hospital or
community center; participants and graduates of the NFP, which caters to only first-time
pregnancies and provides no care after the child is of two years, will also be encouraged to
enroll. The key feature of the program that encourages women to enroll is the peer-support
discussion groups, which allow women to share their experiences and forge relationships.
Previous studies have shown that the establishment of a relationship between a woman and a
healthcare provider results in enrollment rates of 90% or higher in programs such as the NFP,
and peer support often bolsters this rate10. Women’s participation in the WHCC is required for at
least one year, and can be extended beyond that period as well.
The teams of WHCC healthcare professionals will be led by a nurse designated by the
participating agency and receive three to four training sessions from the central WHCC
organization. The professionals on these teams will then rotate weekly through the same
community based on the focus topic of the week. For example, during weeks centered on mental
health and counseling, behavioral health counselors will visit the community and work with the
participating women. Once every month, medical and administrative assistants will visit the
group of women and assist in tracking the incidence and progression of chronic conditions such
as hypertension, obesity, diabetes, and heart disease, provide surveys to track smoking, drinking,
depression, and anxiety, and record the number of women accessing prenatal and postpartum
care and emergency services. While the aim is to implement Women’s Health Community
Collaborative nationally, each community possesses unique characteristics, and thus, the
variations in social, mental, and environmental determinants of health will be left to the
discretion of the WHCC teams from the participating agency.
Initial funding to create the WHCC head organization and provide program materials,
training, salaries for the teams of professionals, and transportation costs can be provided through
ACA’s State Grants to Promote Community Health Teams and the competitive Community
Transformation Grants. These grants promote the assembling of healthcare professionals to
strengthen preventative care, health education, and chronic disease management, all of which are
characteristic of the WHCC. After a period of two years of being piloted in a state such as Texas
(an area of concentrated maternal mortality), the WHCC can be implemented in other states
through a source of stable and permanent funding, such as the ACA’s Prevention and Public
Health Fund and Pregnancy Assistance Fund. Currently, the NFP, which provides individualized
home visits instead of community meetings, is estimated at $102,000 in the first year and
$14,900 in subsequent years for the participating agency.9 The WHCC utilizes resources similar
to the NFP and thus has a similar estimated cost. While the WHCC will provide 75% of initial
funding for participating agencies in initial years (agreed upon by both the WHCC head
organization and the agency), in subsequent years, a greater percentage of cost will be subsidized
by the agency itself.
D. Analysis of the Women’s Health Community Collaborative
There are few drawbacks to the WHCC, if any. The program will be implemented
through competitive grants and existing funding in the ACA, and thus requires no external
sources of funding. The WHCC is also an evidence-based program, created by showing the
effectiveness of sixteen other previous programs and current community coalitions in improving
high impact pregnancy measures. The WHCC addresses high impact measures that predict the
outcomes of pregnancies, such as chronic disease, mental health, and timely access to prenatal
and postpartum care. The outcomes of the WHCC will also be tracked monthly for enrolled
participants through monitoring of medical conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and
obesity and behavioral health conditions, and thus the effectiveness of the WHCC model during
its pilot phase will be evident. Low enrollment rates or dropout may be cited as a disadvantage of
the WHCC. However, the mechanisms of establishing relationships with a healthcare provider
and with other similar women have shown to boost completion of programs such as the NFP.
Additionally, since participants will also be participating in or will have recently graduated from
the NFP or other home visiting models, their respective nurses will be present to encourage their
attendance at WHCC meetings. The NFP, which provides individual home visits instead of
community meetings, has maintained consistent enrollment and high graduation rates. Thus, a
similar level of participation and enrollment is expected for the WHCC.
III. Policy #2: National Paid Family Leave
A. Introduction to National Paid Family Leave
Childbirth is an important issue that affects nearly all families and is especially important
in the context of maternal wellbeing. Thus, there have been multiple initiatives in the United
States at a federal and state level to improve the process of childbirth. The Pregnancy
Discrimination Act of 1978 was a federal law that prohibited any firm from discriminating
against pregnant women in its hiring practices and its employee benefits. This allowed women 19
to join the workforce without fearing employer retaliation in the event of pregnancy. The next
major federal legislation was the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, which allowed eligible
employees to receive up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave with continued employer health insurance
and the guarantee of a job when they return from the leave.19 In addition to federal laws, eighteen
states have some sort of laws aimed at aiding pregnant women by creating new legislation or
expanding federal initiatives. One of these state initiatives is the Temporary Disability Insurance
laws (under the Federal Unemployment Tax Act of 1946), which allow for surpluses from
unemployment insurance programs to be directed towards new disability insurance programs.
This provides a certain percentage (usually between 50-60%) of monthly pay to disabled
individuals, which include pregnant women.19 Recently, five states have enacted a paid family
leave program that provides a statewide insurance fund and grants pregnant women paid leave to
bond with the child.19 Although popular and successful, paid leave is not a federally funded
initiative in the United States, despite high public approval of the measure.
B. Existing Policy and Inadequacies
The most recent and comprehensive federal legislation was the Family and Medical Leave
Act of 1993, signed under Bill Clinton. This act strengthened previous anti-discrimination laws
concerning pregnancy and additionally mandated 12 weeks of unpaid leave to bond with the
newborn child for both men and women.19 However, this law only applied to firms of 50 or more
employees and excluded more than 40% of the workforce.19 This was particularly harmful for
low-income workers and other marginally attached workers. Additionally, this law did not ensure
paid leave for women, which further excluded many low-income and middle class women.
While these women are covered for unpaid leave, many simply cannot afford to take the unpaid
leave. When faced with the choice of improving and nurturing the health of themselves and their
child or earning enough to put food on the table, women are not able to prioritize their health.
This limitation causes mothers to rush back to work in order to make sure they are able to pay
the bills, often sacrificing their own health.
Although previous policy measures strengthened pregnant women’s rights in the
workforce, they did not address the need for paid leave. Even with paid family leave offered in
a few states and a few private companies, only
12% of workers have some sort of paid family leave option; this lack of paid leave puts mothers
and their children at risk for many pregnancy related disabilities, impacts long-term life
expectancy, and causes a myriad of other emotional and psychological stress in the family.19 Paid
family leave provides a portion of monthly wages to women after childbirth so that they can
recuperate in a timely manner, reducing the economic burden that many middle class and lower
class women face during and after pregnancy.
C. Design: National Paid Family Leave
In order to address current inadequacies in paid family leave legislation, the second
policy proposed is to adopt the current campaign for federal insurance for paid family leave
(called the Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act). This proposal creates a national insurance
program to provide partial pay to every eligible employee for up to 60 workdays to bond with a
newly born child, among other things.19 All workers, regardless of gender, would be eligible as
long as they qualify for disability insurance benefits under the Social Security Act and have
earned some income in the last 12 months, which includes a vast majority of the workforce,
many more than was included in the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993.19 This federal
insurance program would result in significant cost savings, since only 13% of the workforce
would utilize it in any given year. 20
The proposal would be funded for by a 0.2% increase in payroll tax on employees and
employers, approximately 2 cents for every $10 in wages. This marginal increase in tax would 21
amount to a mere $1.50 per week for a typical worker ($65-88 per year) and contributions would
be capped at $243 per year.19,21 This tax would cover all the administrative costs as well as the
costs of dispensing benefits. During the paid leave, workers would receive 66% of highest
monthly wage in the last 3 years with a minimum of $580 and a maximum of $4000 per month.21
This would cover low-income and middle class families, only capping benefits for high earning
workers. Additionally, states that have implemented such policies have seen the largest usage of
paid family leave from the lowest quintile of the workforce. This could potentially reduce the 22
gap between white maternal mortality and maternal mortality in communities of color, which can
be 3-4 times higher.9
!
D. Analysis: National Paid Family Leave
Paid family leave has numerous health benefits for the mother and the child.
Since 66% of maternal deaths happen 1-365 days after pregnancy, paid family leave
allows mothers to take care of themselves without worrying about economic costs.9 Paid
family leave can also reduce infant mortality by up to 10%, increase rate of infant
vaccinations by up to 25%, and can double length of breastfeeding.19 While
breastfeeding has numerous health benefits for the infant, it also has many health
benefits for the mother, such as helping the mother return to pre-pregnancy weight and
reducing risk of breast cancer, ovarian cancer, type 2 diabetes, and rheumatoid arthritis.
19, Additionally, it saves money and promotes emotional bonding, which can 23
significantly reduce postpartum depression. Postpartum depression is very prevalent,
affecting about 12% of all mothers. Paid family leave has been shown to reduce 24
depression by 15% and can even reduce depression 30 years after pregnancy by
18%. , Thus, paid family leave can significantly improve maternal health by 25 26
promoting emotional bonding, reducing stress, and ensuring financial stability. In
conjunction with the first proposed piece of legislation, the Women’s Health Community
Collaborative, which is focused on longitudinal health benefits for women of all
reproductive ages, the Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act would result in stable
benefits right after the pregnancy. Together, these two policies together would contribute
to the reduction of maternal morbidity and mortality in the long term.
In addition to a multitude of health benefits, paid family leave can have other substantial
benefits. The policy also improves income for women four quarters after they make the claim.22
By promoting workforce attachment, paid family leave has positive economic impacts for
women, which could aid in reducing the gap in wages between genders. Paid family leave
improves employee retention because it usually costs up to 10 weeks of full time work to replace
a worker; many companies are better off just shifting work around until the employee returns.19
A vast majority of firms neither replace workers during their leave nor use overtime for other
employees.19 By reducing turnover and increasing wages, this policy can also reduce government
burden on public assistance. A study by Houser and Vartanian reveals that employees who
receive paid family leave are 39% less likely to receive public assistance than those who
continued working; this difference amounted to an average of $413 less in public assistance for
those with paid family leave.19 Critics state that paid family leave causes women to exit the labor
market; while this is true to an extent, it is unclear whether this is because of paid family leave or
because of childbirth in general. Additionally, there is a significant number of women that
remain attached to the workforce and that return to the same firm.22 Moreover, this claim ignores
the positive societal benefits of women caring for newborn children during their vitally important
first few months without facing inordinate financial stress. This benefit is magnified since young,
low-income, women drop out of the workforce to care for their newborns at a larger rate than
older, high-income women. In the end, firms are the best indicator of whether the program hurts
or helps the labor market, and a survey of businesses in California revealed that close to 90% of
firms reported positive or neutral effect on productivity and almost 100% reported increase in
employee morale.19 Additionally, since family leave is not restricted to mothers, fathers can take
family leave and spend time to bond with the child and relieve stress for the mother. Studies
show that fathers who take paid leave to bond with babies are more engaged in the child’s life as
they get older.19 This can also reduce the wage gap between genders and reduce mental and
physical stress for the mother. All of these various benefits combined, including higher fertility
rates and a larger labor force, would increase the overall, long-term Gross Domestic Product of
the United States.
There are few, if any, drawbacks for the Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act. The
slight increase in payroll taxes may have a minor effect on employment rates, but since the
increase in payroll tax is so small, the effect is likely negligible. A strong criticism of federally
mandated paid family leave policies is the burden that it places on businesses. However, unlike
national mandates, such as the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, the proposed policy sets
up a federal insurance funded through marginal increases in the employee side payroll tax. Thus,
there are no extra costs to businesses. Moreover, a paid family leave program has been enacted in
a few states around the country, such as California. These states have seen high public approval
of such measures and low retaliation from businesses. A study that assessed the policy
implications in California cited that “there is no evidence that firms with higher rates of [paid
family leave] take-up are burdened with higher wage costs or significantly increased employee
turnover rates”.22 Many businesses have given neutral or positive ratings, and this state-wide
insurance program may even result in cost-savings for businesses, due to the fact that some
companies that currently offer paid family leave can now dissolve their program.22
Another criticism from opponents is that paid family leave stigmatizes female workers
causing possible discrimination. While a fair criticism of today’s employment practices, paid
family leave does nothing to change this gender dynamic -- women are going to have children
with or without paid family leave. Moreover, other federal and state laws aim to prevent such
discrimination. Lastly, and most importantly, critics argue that the initiative does not extend
worker protections to all employees covered by it like the Family and Medical Leave Act of
1993. This is the most valid criticism of the current proposal because it could possibly discourage
low-income workers that are not covered by the latter act from taking the leave because of
possible retaliation by their employers.20 While this would likely only affect a small percentage of
workers, a suggested remedy for this problem would be to add a clause that grants worker
protections, similar to the 1993 Act, for all eligible employees under the new paid family leave
program, thus granting protections to workers not covered by the 1993 Act. Although seeming to
impose a burden, this would likely not cause adverse economic costs because firms do not
experience higher wage costs, lower productivity, and higher turnover rate when employees take
leave.19 Ultimately, this last clause could be managed at the state level, to accommodate local
sentiments, without negating from the overall positive effects of the paid family leave proposal at
the national level.
IV. Conclusion
In conclusion, a federally funded Women’s Health Community Collaborative and
national paid family leave proposal following the lines of the current campaign for the Family
and Medical Insurance Leave Act would greatly boost maternal health.
The Women’s Health Community Collaborative is an education-based community
initiative aimed at chronic disease prevention and management, improvement of health-related
behaviors, provision of prenatal and postpartum-related information, increased awareness of
surrounding services, and facilitation of peer-to-peer discussion and support. The WHCC will be
funded through the Affordable Care Act and carried out by teams of healthcare professionals
from an implementing agency through weekly community meetings for all Medicaid-eligible
women of reproductive age. By helping manage chronic disease, currently responsible for 30%
of maternal deaths nationwide, providing access to timely prenatal and postpartum care, crucial
for reduced risk of complication during pregnancy, and serving as a source of support and
information, often lacking for women in low-income neighborhoods, the WHCC aims to curb the
incidence of maternal morbidity and death in the long term. The WHCC is an evidence-based
program and a cost-effective model of care, and its outcomes will be tracked during the two-year
pilot phase.
The Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act has a minute cost, while greatly improving
maternal health overall. It would boost the number of people covered by paid family leave
policies, usually from private companies or state insurance funds, from 12% to the eligible
workforce to 100% of the eligible workforce. Aside from numerous benefits for children,
society, and the economy, paid family leave has a multitude of positive effects on the long-term
well-being of women by reducing rates of chronic disease, reducing psychological and emotional
stress, and increasing financial independence. One change to the current campaign for paid
family leave is to extend worker rights to prevent hiring and firing discrimination by those who
take advantage of the policy. By allowing women to spend time recovering from pregnancy and
bond with their new child, paid family leave works well in conjunction with the Women’s Health
Community Collaborative to achieve outcomes to improve the health of women. Implemented
together, the Women’s Health Community Collaborative and National Paid Family Leave could
alter the concerning trend of increasing rates of maternal morbidity and death in the United
States and confer additional benefits on the lives of women and their families.
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