Basic HTML Version
Healthcare Journal of new orleans
I
JUL / AUG 2014
53
Kathy Kliebert
Secretary, Louisiana DHH
system from three levels of care to four.
As we began to look at how to best bring
Louisiana Medicaid in line with current best
practices, DHH developed a collaborative
approach by forming the Perinatal Clinical
Guidelines Committee in 2013. Committee
members include hospital executives, per-
inatology and neonatology physicians, and
quality improvement registered nurses from
around the state. The purpose of this com-
mittee is to inform and develop recommen-
dations for contemporary levels of neona-
tal care, including identifying national best
practices for newborn tiered provisions of
care and to standardize definitions for facil-
ity requirements providing neonatal care.
The committee will suggest a pro-
cess for ensuring the guidelines
for perinatal care are updated
on an annual basis as well as
appropriately enforced.
Through each of these
initiatives, I am confident
that Louisiana will see bet-
ter health outcomes for wom-
en and children across our state.
Education coupled with action will
further our goals to reduce preterm births,
prevent birth defects, decrease the number of
unnecessary C-sections and increase care in
the NICU. Those interested in learning more
about the goals and initiatives are welcome
to contact the Department.
n
to improved outcomes on the Perinatal Core
Measure Set, elective inductions, and revers-
ing the trend of rising cesarean rates. Louisi-
ana is engaging providers and hospitals to re-
duce C-sections through reducing the number
of elective inductions before the due date and
encouraging them to go for a full 40 weeks.
DHH is also taking steps to increase access
to medical therapies proven to lower the in-
stance of pretermbirth. In particular, DHH re-
cently implementedMedicaid policy changes
to cover Vaginal Progesterone and Makena.
We are in the process of putting together a
state-wide Vaginal Progesterone strategy in
partnership with March of Dimes and other
stakeholders. The focus will be on provider
education and engagement with the OB/GYN
and theMaternal-Fetal Medicine community
around the state to increase the utilization of
progesterone.
DHH is also working to update its perina-
tal care guidelines, which were last revised in
2007.This is being done
as part of a national
movement to look at re-
gionalization criteria and
NICU levels of care and Lou-
isiana wants to be at the forefront of
that effort. In 2012, the American Academy
of Pediatrics (AAP) and the American Col-
lege of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG)
released Guidelines for Perinatal Care, 7th
Edition which expanded the classification