SPONSORED RESEARCH: University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) State Maternal Health Innovation (State MHI) Program

Read a Q&A Below

Patricia Lee King, PhD, and team at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Department of Medical Social Sciences received a grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration to collaborate with University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) to implement activities of the State Maternal Health Innovation (State MHI) Program. The Illinois Maternal Health Task Force and Ann Borders, MD, MSc, MPH and the Illinois Perinatal Quality Collaborative will collaborate in this effort.

What are the aims of the project?  

This project aims to expand awareness and utilization of resources to support obstetric providers to facilitate initial treatment and referral to mental health resources for obstetric patients who screen positive for or have identified / diagnosed mental health needs and improve patients’ access to mental health resources in their communities.

What are your next steps? 

Our team is working with colleagues at DocAssist, Illinois Moms Line, and the Drug Overdose Prevention Program (DOPP) to identify existing resources and develop implementation strategies. 

What do you hope will come out of this funded project? 

We hope that this project will generate actionable implementation tools for obstetric providers to improve access to perinatal mental health care for patients through the Illinois Perinatal Quality Collaborative Perinatal Mental Health initiative launching this year.