COVID-19: Telehealth for Community Midwives
Friday, April 3, 2020 1:00-2:30 ET
MEAC CEUs applied for
Certified Professional Midwife care takes place within the context of relationship, respect and support. As providers of high-touch, time-intensive and highly personal care, midwives are having to adopt policies and procedures for protecting their clients and themselves from the coronavirus while continuing to support their clients to achieve the birth experience they are seeking. Telehealth has quickly become an essential component of prenatal and postpartum care for community midwives during this health crisis. NACPM wants to provide support to midwives as they adapt their practices to account for our suddenly changed environment.
Two experts from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation will provide an overview of telehealth, the different models and services that can be provided, the potential roles of telehealth in maternity care, some of the startup issues and a summary of the landscape of policies and laws that govern provision and coverage of telehealth.
essential component of prenatal and postpartum care for community midwives during this health crisis. NACPM wants to provide support to midwives as they adapt their practices to account for our suddenly changed environment.
Two experts from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation will provide an overview of telehealth, the different models and services that can be provided, the potential roles of telehealth in maternity care, some of the startup issues and a summary of the landscape of policies and laws that govern provision and coverage of telehealth.
Gabriela Weigel is a Health Policy Fellow for the Kaiser Family Foundation, a member of the Foundation’s Women’s Health Policy team and is leading the Foundation’s work on pregnancy and COVID-19. She is the lead author on the Foundation’s policy briefs, Novel Coronavirus “COVID-19”: Special Considerations for Pregnant Women and Telemedicine and Prenatal Care.
Usha Ranji is Associate Director for Women’s Health Policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation. Her work addresses the impact of major health policy issues on women and girls, with an emphasis on insurance coverage, access to care, and low-income populations and how federal, state and local policies influence health and access to services for women.
We also welcome Nancy Koerber, CPM, CPC, who will talk about the latest developments on coding and billing for telehealth during the pandemic. Nancy is the executive director of the WNC Birth Center in Asheville, N.C. She is a Certified Professional Coder with experience in small business operations, having worked for a federally qualified community health center as medical coder, auditor, documentation specialist, team leader for the ICD-10 transition and compliance educator for providers and residents.
Please come with your questions for our presenters – there will be one-half hour for Q&A with the presenters. If you have a question ahead of time, please submit them here.
COVID-19: Community Midwives, Public Health, and Emergency Preparedness
Tuesday, April 7, 2020 1:00-3:00 ET
MEAC CEUs applied for
In these days of the coronavirus pandemic, midwives are putting themselves on the front line to serve childbearing people. They are organizing to increase their capacity to serve people now flocking to midwives as well as those who may soon need community midwife services as hospitals caring for the increasing numbers of people sick with the virus reach capacity. In these troubled times, the pandemic is prompting unprecedented collaboration among midwives and outreach to other providers, hospitals and public officials to enable midwives to meet the growing and urgent needs of the childbearing population. This webinar explores the role of CPMs and other community midwives as integral members of the public health system and features examples from communities from around the country where midwives are developing policy and forging coordination and collaboration and building new opportunities to deploy midwives.
The role of midwives and community birth in the context of a global pandemic: Tamara Wren, MA Tamara is Executive Director of the Foundation for the Advancement of Midwifery (FAM), and played a lead role in developing the FAM statement on Out of Hospital Birth and Pandemic Planning, a guide to the role of community midwives in emergency planning for maternity care during a global and national pandemic.
Community Midwives: Shifting the perspective from ‘my practice’ to midwives as critical public health providers and how this shift will change practice in a global pandemic: Karen Hayes, DNP, CNM, APRN Karen is adjunct faculty member at Bastyr University in the Department of Midwifery, a homebirth and hospital midwife, and an active contributor to the American College of Nurse-Midwives Disaster Caucus, Global Health Media Project, Pronto International, and the King County Medical Reserve Corps.
Caring for the Community: collaboration and coordination between hospitals and community midwives during the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspective of a community hospital: Autumn Vergo, MSN, CNM, APRN Autumn, Chief of Obstetrics at Cheshire Medical Center/Dartmouth-Hitchcock, a collaborative Women’s Health practice in Keene, NH, is originally an apprentice-trained, state-licensed midwife and provided home and birth center services for many years.
A Washington State task force to elevate and support midwives during the COVID-19 pandemic: Emily Jones and Jen Segadelli, JD, MSM Long before COVID-19, senior Bastyr midwifery student Emily studied the role of community midwives in disaster preparedness for her master’s thesis, Integration of Community Midwifery and Licensed Freestanding Birth Centers into Washington State Disaster and Emergency Management. Jen is the Clinical Education Supervisor and adjunct faculty member of the Department of Midwifery at Bastyr University, and co-president of the Midwives Association of Washington State.
The Rainier Valley Community Clinic in Seattle – how their Birth Bundle model can support a midwifery response to COVID-19: Jodilyn Owen, LM (WA & TN) and Latonia Westerfield, midwife student at Birthwise Midwifery School
A Minnesota approach to secure and enhance hospital-community midwife coordination : Rebecca Polston, CPM, LM Rebecca is the founder, owner and director of Roots Community Birth Center with a passion for building community and creating a safe space for all birthing families.
A Maryland midwife collective responding to a governor’s call to reopen recently closed hospitals to address pandemic-generated needs: Mairi Breen Rothman, CNM, DM Mairi is leading a large CNM/CPM midwife collaborative to work with officials to reopen a community hospital as a place for birth during the pandemic and beyond.
A North Carolina example: requesting a governor’s order to expedite the licensing of CPMs during COVID-19: Meredith Christie, CPM Meredith is the president of the NC NACPM Chapter and a leader in NC MERA.