WELLESLEY, Mass. and
WORCESTER, Mass., May 11, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Harvard Pilgrim
Health Care today announced a new collaboration aimed at improving
maternal health and well-being across New England. Through a
collaboration with Ariadne Labs and UMass Memorial Health,
TeamBirth, a clinically proven care process innovation pioneered by
Ariadne Labs will initially launch at UMass Memorial
HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital in Leominster and UMass Memorial Medical Center
in Worcester this May. Lessons
from this collaboration will be used to establish TeamBirth as a
standard of care that benefits people giving birth across New
England.
Americans today are 50 percent more likely to die during
childbirth than prior generations, showing a continuously rising
maternal mortality rate over decades, despite advances in health
care. Data also shows that the risk is higher for Black and
American Indian/Alaska Native women. Developed by the Delivery
Decisions Initiative at Ariadne Labs, TeamBirth aims to improve
both safety and dignity in childbirth by structuring the essential
information that should be communicated during every labor
assessment. During its pilot program, Ariadne Labs reported that 79
percent of TeamBirth patients believed their preferences made a
difference in the care they received and 94 percent reported their
clinical team talked with them in a way they could understand.
"Through our collaboration with Ariadne Labs and UMass Memorial
HealthAlliance, our goal is to improve birth outcomes, decrease
cesarean section procedures, and improve the patient experience for
expectant mothers and their families," said Michael Sherman, MD, Executive Vice President
and Chief Medical Officer at the combined organization of Harvard
Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Plan. "We look forward to
working together on this innovative program that puts the patient
at the center of the clinical care team."
Two primary elements comprise the TeamBirth initiative — efforts
to improve communication between the mother, the family, and the
clinical care team, which includes a live birth plan, storyboarding
and birth plan "huddles" between the clinical team throughout
labor; and a pair of decision-making tools aimed at reducing
cesarean sections.
"The project flips the standard script of how to improve safety
in healthcare. Rather than treating people's experience as a
secondary goal, we're demonstrating how attending to the lived
experience of people giving birth is a primary way to make outcomes
equitable. I'm grateful to Harvard
Pilgrim for their visionary investment and UMass for their dedicated partnership to establish
a new standard of care," said Dr. Neel Shah, Director of the
Delivery Decisions Initiative at Ariadne Labs and Assistant
Professor at Harvard Medical
School.
"As a community hospital I think we are already very patient
centered but any way that we can improve our patients' birth
experience and our team's communication is a welcome improvement,"
said Dr. Daniel Terk of
HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital. "I am very much looking forward to
TeamBirth in Leominster and hoping
to see a benefit for all of our patients, and their growing
families. "
"This initiative will enhance and strengthen our care delivery
processes, and improve the patient experience, for our expectant
mothers, other birthing persons, and their families," said Dr.
Tiffany Moore Simas, Chair and
Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Medical
Center. "Our academic medical center embraces an environment
of continuous improvement - that commitment is why we are
partnering with Harvard Pilgrim and
Ariadne Labs. Our care teams are excited about this
opportunity."
UMass Memorial Health facilities include a tertiary care
referral center for high risk pregnancies, a level 3 neonatal
intensive care unit (NICU) and comprehensive obstetric and
gynecologic care. This includes specialty services in gyn oncology,
urogynecology, reproductive endocrinology and infertility. A new in
vitro fertilization (IVF) center is scheduled to open later this
year.
Harvard Pilgrim and Ariadne Labs
will launch TeamBirth during two closed events: Tuesday, May 17 at 2:30
p.m., at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Knowles Hall; and
Wednesday, May 18 at 9:00 a.m. at UMass Memorial
HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital in Leominster. Media interested in attending the
events should contact Anthony Berry,
Sr. Director, Media and Public Relations at UMass Memorial Health:
anthony.berry@umassmemorial.org.
About Harvard
Pilgrim
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care along with its
subsidiaries provide health benefit plans, programs and services to
more than 3 million members and customers, including its
subsidiaries that serve national self-insured and population health
customers, in New England and beyond. A leading not-for-profit
health services company, we guide our members – and the communities
we serve – to better health. In partnership with our expansive
network of doctors and hospitals, we're improving health outcomes
and lowering costs through clinical quality and innovative care
management. Our commitment to the communities we serve is driven by
the passion of the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation. Through
its work, low- and moderate-income families are gaining greater
access to fresh, affordable food — a cornerstone to better health
and well-being.
About Ariadne Labs
Ariadne Labs is a joint center for
health systems innovation at Brigham & Women's Hospital and the
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. With a mission
to save lives and reduce suffering, our vision is that health
systems equitably deliver the best possible care for every patient,
everywhere, every time. We use human centered design, health
systems implementation science, public health expertise, and
frontline clinical care experience to design, test and spread
scalable systems-level solutions to some of health care's biggest
problems. From developing checklists and conversation guides to
fostering international collaborations and establishing global
standards of measurement, our work has been accessed in more than
165 countries, touching hundreds of millions of lives. Visit
ariadnelabs.org to learn more and
covid19.ariadnelabs.org to learn about our response to
COVID-19.
About UMass Memorial Health
UMass Memorial Health is
the largest not-for-profit health care system in Central Massachusetts with more than 14,000
employees and 1,700 physicians, many of whom are members of UMass
Memorial Medical Group. We are the clinical partner of the
University of Massachusetts Medical
School. Our comprehensive system includes UMass Memorial
Health – HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital, UMass Memorial Health –
Marlborough Hospital, UMass Memorial Medical Center and UMass
Memorial Health – Community Healthlink. Together, we impact every
aspect of life in the region by making health and wellness services
available to everyone, advocating for social equality and providing
economic stability and opportunity. There are many ways to heal. We
pursue them all. Relentlessly. Visit www.ummhealth.org.
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SOURCE Harvard Pilgrim Health Care