CHICAGO — Today, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois celebrates the one-year anniversary of its expanded Special Beginnings® Maternal and Infant Health Initiative. The initiative aims to improve the health of moms and babies throughout Illinois, with an increased focus on access to quality care, reducing resource and care gaps, and supporting families across the state. The initiative also works to address factors that influence the health and wellbeing of women, children, and families, including addressing the social determinants of health.
Illinois reports a maternal mortality rate of 18.1 deaths per 100,000 live births, exceeding the national average, according to the March of Dimes. Illinois also faces challenges in prenatal care access, with 14.8% of birthing people not receiving adequate prenatal care.
Since its inception, the program has demonstrated measurable success across the communities BCBSIL serves, including:
- More than 38,000 people served through community and clinical partners with specialized maternal health services.
- Nearly 3,500 preconception and prenatal patients screened for sexually transmitted diseases and cervical cancer.
- More than 250 healthy babies were born through program partners
These efforts also include the investment in maternal health workforce development, including doulas and midwives to reduce perinatal disparities.
“This marks an important milestone as we celebrate one-year of our commitment to improving health outcomes for moms and babies in Illinois,” said BCBSIL Chief Medical Officer Dr. Alvia Siddiqi. “We look forward to supporting families at every stage of life and that starts with maternal care. BCBSIL is committed to driving positive change for maternal and infant health, and championing its advancement every step of the way.”
BCBSIL recognizes the meaningful impact of its community partners and the expertise they bring through collaboration and trust. Their work helps to eliminate barriers to care from preconception through postpartum and is vital in creating lasting change in maternal and infant health.
Special Beginnings grantees include:
American Lung Association, training partner organizations across Illinois on smoking cessation and asthma management.
Aurora African American Health Coalition, educating pre- and postpartum African American/Black mothers and caregivers on sudden unexpected infant deaths and nutrition.
Chicago Family Doulas, providing doula and newborn care in Chicago and surrounding areas, offering in-person and virtual birth and baby classes.
Chicago Southside Birth Center, providing culturally centered, evidence-based midwifery care and services in Chicago’s South Side communities.
Chicago Volunteer Doulas, training and employing 100 doulas in the next year to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity rates in Chicagoland and Illinois.
Chinese American Service League, catalyzes the transformation of individuals, families, and the community for an equitable future.
Delfina, providing a platform delivering doula support, telehealth services and at-home monitoring.
Dovetail Family Health Initiative, providing fathers ages 17 to 24 skills and support to be better fathers for their children.
Everthrive Illinois, expanding culturally sensitive perinatal mental health care, psychosocial support and addiction services.
Family Christian Health Center, providing services and access to an additional 125 pregnant moms in underserved areas.
Family Focus, providing educational materials, postpartum support services, consulting and postpartum mental health support.
Gifted Hands International, offering six-month advanced full-spectrum doula training with a one-year professional development externship.
Illinois Perinatal Quality Collaborative, administering Birth Care Quality Star and Birth Care Quality Excellence designations, directing support for quality improvement and developing infrastructure.
Illinois Contraceptive Action Network, works to de-silo, de-stigmatize, and normalize birth control as basic health care.
Infant Welfare Society of Chicago, providing healthcare services, education, and support to children and families in the Chicagoland area
Inovcares, offering a mobile app providing access to providers, health assessments and tracking and prescription delivery.
Marrilac St. Vincent Family Services, offering programs for pregnant and parenting teens and young women ages 12 to 22 on Chicago's near West Side.
Melanated Midwives, implementing a midwife-led postpartum and mental health program supporting Black mothers and their infants.
Morehouse, provides healthcare training to providers to help them understand patients and factors like SDoH to aid in improving health outcomes.
Mother and Child Alliance, providing a safety net during and after pregnancy for moms, babies and their providers to prevent HIV and other costly pediatric infections in newborns.
New Moms, Inc., offering doula services to support healthy pregnancies and births and home-based parent coaching to support healthy family relationships and positive child development.
Primo Center for Women and Children, working to increase the number of homeless pregnant women using prenatal and maternal child health care services during their first trimester.
Share Our Spare, providing postpartum women with items, including diapers, clothing, nursing supplies and safety gear.
Sokana International, recruiting 40 people to become full-spectrum doulas with training in business management to start, grow and sustain a doula business.
Start Early Illinois, providing access to high-quality peripartum care through home visits and doulas encompassing direct service, workforce development and systems change.
Sudden Infant Death Services of Illinois, expanding bilingual health educators and crib distribution throughout Illinois and hosting education events for fathers.
TMH Behavioral Services, providing programs to connect moms with clinicians, enhance parenting skills and emotional well-being for expectant mothers.
University of Illinois-Chicago Two Generations Clinic, providing women and children of all ages comprehensive primary care and behavioral health support.
Virtuously B'Earthed, providing free doula training to increase access to trained doulas in maternal health deserts and communities of foreign-born people.
Vitamin Angels, supporting maternal nutrition by giving clinics and community organizations prenatal vitamins to distribute at no-cost to their clients and patients.
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About Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois is the largest health insurer in Illinois, serving nine million members and operating in all 102 Illinois counties. BCBSIL is a division of Health Care Service Corporation, a Mutual Legal Reserve Company and an Independent Licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. Learn more at bcbsil.com and follow us on Facebook and LinkedIn.