News Release
September 12, 2019
The Texas Department of State
Health Services will receive a federal grant to support the Texas Maternal
Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee and its efforts to reduce maternal
deaths in Texas.
The grant from the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention will provide up to $3 million over five years so
the committee can review more recent maternal deaths and share detailed
information from those reviews with researchers through a national data system.
“It’s exciting that we’ll be able
to review cases much closer to real time and get a better idea of what’s affecting
women’s health now,” said Dr. Manda Hall, committee member and DSHS associate
commissioner for community health improvement. “And the ability to securely
store and more quickly analyze data about maternal deaths will allow us to create
more effective initiatives to reduce deaths.”
Earlier this year, the Texas
Legislature added $7 million to the state budget to address maternal deaths.
Those funds will let DSHS expand its TexasAIM partnership with hospitals, which
works to reduce maternal deaths and complications from specific, preventable
causes identified through case review. DSHS will also use the state dollars to
develop a tool to help health care professionals assess a woman’s risk for
pregnancy complications and to create a campaign educating professionals and
communities about the risk factors.
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(News Media
Contact: Chris Van Deusen, DSHS Director of Media Relations, 512-776-7119)