Join us for our Annual Meeting on Thursday!

Calling all CPMs and others interested in the work of NACPM! You are invited to participate in our 2016 Annual Meeting this Thursday, November 7 at 2:00 pm EST. The meeting will be held on-line.

Register Here

This past year, NACPM has undertaken several important initiatives, each designed to strengthen the three pillars of a viable, autonomous profession, as described by the International Confederation of Midwives: Education, Regulation, and Association. We aim to support the development of the CPM profession to better meet the urgent needs of the changing childbearing population in the U.S. and to better position CPMs to participate in the service delivery and payment models that are rapidly coming to define health care in the U.S. The annual meeting is an opportunity for us to share our vision and the values that inform our work. It is also an opportunity for you to ask questions and provide feedback to our national leadership team. Here’s what will be on the agenda:

Leadership: Manifesting Commitments

Meet out new board leadership, including co-presidents Tanya Khemet and Audrey Levine. Learn more about their commitment to cross-racial co-presidency and how it advances NACPM’s commitment to addressing the needs of our childbearing people and diversifying the midwifery workforce. Hear from Keisha Goode, public member of the NACPM Board of Directors, about the important role that public members play in advancing the profession.

NACPM provides leadership and represents CPMs in a number of formal collaborative groups and cultivates relationships with other individuals and organizations to expand our sphere of influence. Find out more about this work and how it might be replicated in your community or state.

Professional Identity, Member Engagement and Support

Continuing education is essential to the development of any profession and NACPM is deeply committed to providing educational resources. Our webinars and newsletters are constructed to address the practice, professional, and policy interests of our members and other stakeholders.  Learn more about the topical threads offered this year: equity, racism and access to midwifery; legislation and public policy; midwifery practice; and midwifery education.

NACPM leadership is deeply committed to addressing the challenges of equity and the impact of racism on perinatal outcomes and to making a real difference as we work to expand and strengthen the midwifery profession.   Learn how this commitment both infuses all aspects of our work and how we maintain a specific focus through workgroups, training, and outreach.

 Are you one of the many CPMs who have been asking for the development of national practice guidelines?  Stay-tuned — NACPM is preparing to launch a Practice Committee that will research the best-evidence available to create guidelines for CPM practice.  Midwives have long been asking for just this kind of support and, after carefully examining the experience and approaches employed by other professional organizations, we are ready to move forward.  Learn how you can inform the priorities for topics to be addressed in practice guidelines.

We can only expand and strengthen the profession when midwifery education is widely accessible and relevant to the needs of our childbearing population.  NACPM is laying the groundwork for an analysis of our current and future midwifery workforce in order to inform our thinking about midwifery education going forward. We are also preparing to draft NACPM Core Competencies, informed by the ICM Essential Competencies.   We aim to convene midwifery educators in the coming months to help us think about best practices in midwifery education, how to build on the strengths of the portfolio evaluation process and the existing formal education programs, and what it will take to grow midwifery exponentially.  We continue to explore the exciting potential for competency-based, direct-assessment education programs as a promising way to expand access to education.

Infrastructure – Foundation for NACPM’s Vision and Purpose

Good financial accountability is key to any viable organization, including NACPM.  We aim to be transparent about our finances, our challenges and our high level of commitment to being a financially sound organization.  Review NACPM’s finances with our Treasurer.

NACPM reaches well beyond individual member dues to support our work.  We have identified individuals and foundations across the country who share our vision and understand the critical nature of our work.  Their contributions make our work possible.  Find out more about our donors, why they support NACPM, and how you can help.

 As the breadth of NACPM initiatives has grown, so has our volunteer base and staff support.  Meet our national staff and learn how they work for you!

 READ THE NEWSLETTER HERE

Our Chapters Are Thriving!

Congratulations to the Illinois Council for Certified Professional Midwives, our newest NACPM State Chapter! We’ve seen the ground breaking work that you’ve accomplished around midwifery legislation in Illinois, and we are excited to work alongside you to bring that work to fruition.

NACPM is working hard to generate high quality webinars for our members and the public.  Chapter Collaboration Calls offer a space for deeper follow up discussion about how these issues relate to our unique state experiences.  We urge you to join our upcoming webinar series on anti-racism and equity in midwifery, planned for December,  and to join our follow up discussion on the December 15th Chapter Collaboration Call.  If you are not already a Chapter member or leader of a Chapter in formation and would like to join these deeper discussions, contact Susan at chapters@nacpm.org to form a Chapter in your state now!

 

North Carolina and South Carolina Host Joint Chapter Event: Carolina Birth Junkies Summer Island Retreat


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One of our goals with the NACPM Chapter Program is to create a nationwide network of CPMs who can learn from and support one another.  Our North Carolina and South Carolina Chapters offer an exciting example of how this mutual support is already building.  This summer, they came together to host a joint retreat, and the results were inspiring.

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Christine Strothers of the North Carolina Association of CPMS and Lori Gibson of the South Carolina Chapter of NACPM came together to create a robust event on Sand Island in the Catawba River.  Lori described this as a vision she and Christine had been cultivating for quite some time, and with the launch of the Carolina State Chapters, they saw an opportunity for joint fundraising in addition to offering “engaging, enticing, and relevant” continuing education: “With both Chapters in infancy and in need of funds, we naturally thought that we would donate any proceeds to the two State Chapters … for expenses related to making CPMs more accessible to families.”  In the end, they raised enough for each Chapter to take home over $1,000 with a very simple marketing strategy using word of mouth, email, and a Facebook page created for the event.

Both Lori and Christine reflected that this retreat went beyond just meeting the needs of local midwives for CEUs and peer review.  Over the course of the weekend they had nearly 40 midwives, midwifery students and doulas flowing in and around the island, some coming from as far as Georgia, Colorado, and New York.  They experienced connection and camaraderie and saw just how much they have in common as midwives, even across state lines.   In addition to the CEUs listed below, they did team building exercises and yoga; they shared meals and shared stories; they got to know one another.

Summer Island Retreat CEU’s:

*Newborn Transitions with Karen Strange, CPM, AAP/NRP

*When Survivors Give Birth, Elizabeth Johnson, MA

* Microbiome, Karen Strange, CPM, AAP/NRP

* Preeclampsia and Nutrition: separating Fact from Fiction, Adrienne Leeds, LM, CPM

* Charting for Midwives, Nancy Koerber, CPM

* Home to Hospital Transfer, Meredith Christie, CPM

* Viewed “The Dark Side of the Full Moon” followed by a round table discussion about post-partum depression

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On Sunday afternoon, State Chapter meetings were held.  The South Carolina Chapter focused their meeting on updates around legislation and regulations in SC, how to grow their membership, and fundraising ideas.  The North Carolina Chapter discussed what NACPM represents and what the goals are on a national level, the new role of State Chapters and goals for NC around legislative efforts, education, professional development, and collaboration with other midwives, consumers, and the medical community including state-level MERA collaborations that they are modeling after USMERA, ideas for handling transport, and opportunities for student involvement.
Plans for next year’s retreat are already underway!

What about your State Chapter?  How are you working to increase your membership and raise funds? How often does your Chapter meet, and where?  Have you connected with another Chapter to offer mutual support?  We’d love to hear what’s working for you and what you’re planning!  Email Susan at chapters@nacpm.org

 

READ THE NEWSLETTER HERE



Payment Reform in Maternity Care

Maternity care in the United States is unnecessarily expensive and does not produce the best results. Midwives know it and now leading experts in health care payment reform agree. But whether CPMs will be seen as part of the solution and whether CPMs are prepared to participate in the new payment reform models are open questions.

A landmark white paper on payment reform was released this summer by the Health Care Payment Learning & Action Network (LAN): Accelerating and Aligning Clinical Episode Payment Models. Interestingly, maternity care is one of three clinical areas explored in-depth in the LAN paper, with recommendations for implementing new payment models.

  • For a brief overview see the LAN Fact Sheet on Clinical Episode Payment Models: Maternity Care

  • You can also read the full White Paper here.

The LAN was created to drive alignment in payment approaches across and within the public and private sectors of the U.S. health care system. More than 100 entities are LAN partners, including major health plans, academic centers, government agencies, consumer groups and private employers.  In keeping with the goals of US Department of Health and Human Services, the LAN aims to have 30% of U.S. health care payments in alternative payment models by 2016 and 50% by 2018.

According to the LAN, one promising area for payment innovation and alignment is in payment for “episodes of care” to improve patient outcomes, enhance health system performance, and control costs. A clinical episode payment is a bundled payment for a set of services that occur over time and across settings. Bundling payments for episodes of care shows promise for reducing costs and improving the quality of care.

An entire chapter of the LAN white paper examines maternity care – cost and quality of current system – with recommendations for designing new payment models that include the definition of clinical episode, population, patient engagement, quality metrics, and so on.  According to the authors of the paper, the goal of episode payment should go beyond lowering costs, and that it should be designed such that it supports a more patient-centered approach to care. Specific goals of maternity episode payment include:

  • Increasing the percentage of vaginal births and decreasing unnecessary cesarean births;

  • Increasing the percentage of births that are full-term and decreasing preterm and early elective births;

  • Decreasing complications and mortality, including readmissions and neonatal intensive-care unit (NICU) use;

  • Providing support for childbearing women and their families in making critical decisions regarding the prenatal, labor and birth, and postpartum phases of maternity care and respecting those choices;

  • Increasing the level of coordination across providers and settings of maternity care; and

  • Consistently providing a woman- and family-centered experience.

Karen Milgate, the Clinical Episode Payment Work Group’s Technical Subject Matter Expert for the Health Care Payment Learning & Action Network, will discuss the white paper and the maternity care recommendations at length on NACPM’s webinar on payment reform on October 27th.  As former Deputy Director of the Center for Strategic Planning within the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Karen is a seasoned health care policy executive with a deep knowledge of Medicare and Medicaid policies, programs, operations, and data.

Note: NACPM’s bundled payment proposal is cited in the LAN white paper appendix on maternity care implementation resources.

 

Maternity Neighborhood Blog

Brynne Potter of Maternity Neighborhood has posted a series of excellent pieces on Business Strategies for Payment Reform that also address clinical episode payment and what midwives need to be thinking about.  Maternity Neighborhood is a mission-driven company with a portfolio of digital tools to support woman-centered, relationship-based maternity care. These tools can be configured in a variety of ways to meet the needs of providers, patients, and care navigators.

Other Learning Resources

Catalyst for Payment Reform. Action Brief: Maternity Care Payment.

Center for Health Care Quality and Payment Reform

Pacific Business Group on Health. Transform Maternity Care (TMC) Advancing high-value maternity care.  December 2014.

Whitman, Elizabeth. Bundles of joy?  How new payment models for maternal care could deliver lower costs Modern Health Care, August 13, 2016

PLEASE READ THE FULL NEWSLETTER HERE


CPMs: Playing a Leading Role in the Development of Birth Centers in the U.S.

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Congratulations to Amy Johnson-Grass – First CPM to Serve as President of the American Association of Birth Centers!

The membership of the American Association of Birth Centers (AABC) has elected Amy Johnson-Grass, ND, LM, LN, CPM, President-Elect of the AABC. Johnson-Grass is the first Certified Professional Midwife to serve as President of the Association. As incoming AABC President-Elect, Amy will serve one year with AABC President Lesley Rathbun, MSN, CNM, FNP and officially become President at the AABC 11th Annual Birth Institute in Anchorage, Alaska in 2017.

“I am thrilled to have Amy as our president-elect. She has been a tremendous addition to the Board already and I am looking forward to seeing how she continues the growth of all aspects of the organization,” said President Lesley Rathbun. “She is a strong and creative woman who runs both a successful business and practice. We are lucky to have such a well-rounded leader.”

A visionary committed to the work of building organizations, Amy says, “As an advocate for birth centers, I recognize the impact an organization can make through legislative efforts both on the state and national levels.”  In fact, she has acted on this conviction to support the creation of the Minnesota Chapter of NACPM, currently serving as Chapter Vice-President.

Amy is the founder, owner & director of Health Foundations Family Health & Birth Center (HFBC) in St. Paul, Minnesota. She is adjunct faculty at Bastyr University and Birthwise Midwifery School and HFBC is a preceptor site for midwifery students.  HFBC provides maternity services as well as a wide range of related services, including pediatrics, chiropractic care, naturopathic medicine, prenatal yoga and fitness classes, nutritional counseling, childbirth education, lactation support and more.  Like many CPMs across the country, Amy works collaboratively with other providers to ensure that families have access to care that meets their needs.

One-half of all birth centers in the United States are owned by or employ CPMs.   Mary Lawlor, Executive Director of NACPM and owner of the Monadnock Birth Center in Keene, NH, reports from the 2016 Birth Center Institute in Pittsburgh from September 22-25 that AABC is an important resource for midwives whether they already work in a birth center or are thinking about creating one.   The annual conference provides opportunities for networking and education in both clinical and administrative tracks.  “How to Start a Birth Center” workshops are held regularly around the country.

AABC has a long history of data collection and research evaluating the birth center model and care provided.  In the landmark National Birth Center Study II, 20% of the women were cared for by CPMs, licensed midwives or teams that included CPMs and licensed midwives.

NACPM has worked alongside AABC in the national Coalition for Quality Maternity Care and supports the continuing efforts to ensure Medicaid payment for services provided by CPMs in birth centers.  Tune in for the NACPM webinar on payment reform on October 27, 2016 which will include presentations on improving birth center payment at both the national and state level.

CPMs are also taking leading roles in the Commission for the Accreditation of Birth Centers, serving on the Board of Commissioners and as Site Visitors.

NACPM is also proud to support the National Association for Birth Centers and Clinics of Color, whose mission is to increase the number of maternity clinics and birth centers owned and/or operated by practitioners of color who are committed to serving communities of color.  Founded in 2012 by a group of CPMs, the NABCCC is building on the successes achieved by each of its founders working with women of color – meaning that the women being served experience better health and better care through the deliverance of culturally-competent, evidence-based, comprehensive and cost-efficient midwifery and maternity-care home models.  Watch for NACPM webinars in December 2016 that will feature Midwives Making a Difference!

PLEASE READ THIS WEEK’S FULL NEWSLETTER HERE


CPMs and State Licensure: Finding New Ways Forward in Today’s Environment

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State licensure, combined with national certification, is essential to the future of CPMs. Twenty years after creation of the CPM credential, 24 of the 29 states that license direct-entry midwives recognize the CPM credential as a route to licensure. (see a state-by state chart here.) While there are many obstacles to achieving licensure in every state, CPMs are finding exciting new ways forward with support from NACPM and the work we’ve accomplished with other national midwifery organizations in the US MERA (Midwifery, Education, Regulation, and Association) collaboration.

The significance of this work is reflected in ACOG’s 2015 statement endorsing the ICM Standards and 2016 statement supporting the Bridge Certificate.  NACPM is building a toolkit of resources for advocates that includes new fact sheets, background information on midwifery regulation, national certification, and educational program accreditation; and tools to support advocating for good regulation based on national and international standards.  Watch the NACPM website for resources as they become available!

This year, legislation was passed in Maine to license CPMs.  This was accomplished through a very interesting process of consensus-building among a range of stakeholder groups, including CPMs, nurse-midwives, consumers, physicians, nurses, and state officials.  Using a professional facilitator, these stakeholders met for more than a year to discuss qualifications, scope of practice, accountability, and more.  Agreeing to include legislative language endorsed by the US MERA organizations was pivotal to their progress.   Referencing the US MERA Principles for Model Midwifery Legislation and Regulation, which are based on international standards, also proved helpful to strengthening the proposed legislation.  As always, some creative problem-solving was also required.  Now that the licensing law has passed, new opportunities are emerging for CPMs to impact quality of care issues in the state thanks to the relationships built in their legislative collaboration.  To learn more about this fascinating story, tune into NACPM’s Legislation and Policy Webinar Series on October 6, 2016 or visit the NACPM webinar page after that date for a recorded version.

CPMs and their advocates are actively pursuing legislation in Kentucky and Illinois.  They are also finding that there is new support for their efforts because they’ve chosen to incorporate the international standards for midwifery using the language regarding qualifications adopted by the U.S. MERA collaboration.   The October 6th webinar will also feature representatives from these states describing the opportunities and challenges unfolding this year.

NACPM is fully committed to supporting state licensure for CPMs.  More women will have access to midwifery care when all CPMs are legally authorized to provide services.  Midwifery regulation, which varies state-by-state, will be improved when state laws are based on national certification.  Midwives will be able to move more easily from one jurisdiction to another when state laws are more consistent. More childbearing families, health professionals, public policymakers and third party payers will understand and value the contributions of CPMs when they are recognized in every state.   Be sure to join us as we explore these topics in future webinars and support NACPM by becoming a member today.


Upcoming webinars: Zika Virus and CPM State Licensure

Please join us for webinars on Monday, September 26, 2016 and Thursday, October 6, 2016. The Monday webinar will feature a number of speakers on the Zika virus: how it affects the mother and fetus, how to manage patient care and more.

On October 6 we will hear from CPMs in Maine, Kentucky and Illinois, who are discovering new opportunities for state licensure and building relationships with professional colleagues and policymakers.

LEARN MORE AND REGISTER FOR THE WEBINARS

Join us in Peterborough, NH on September 28

Please join us for a free presentation by NACPM Executive Director Mary Lawlor on September 28, 2016 from 6-7pm at the Peterborough Library on 2 Concord Street in Peterborough, NH. Mary will present “The Future Begins With the Way We Are Born.” Mary will share current trends and practices, a bright future vision, and the work that is being done to achieve that. Discussion will follow.

READ MORE ABOUT THE PRESENTATION HERE

REGISTER NOW for MAMA Campaign Virtual Meeting

All stakeholders are invited to participate in a discussion of the current initiative to secure Medicaid reimbursement for all licensed CPMs. There will be a brief update on the direction and current status of the initiative to be followed by an open discussion of questions and concerns raised by stakeholders. We want to hear from you!!! Please click through for registration information.


READ THE FULL TEXT AND REGISTER HERE

Webinars on MAMA Campaign, US MERA available for free viewing

We invite you to view the following free webinar recordings:

MAMA Campaign: A New Foundation for Federal Recognition of CPMs
Mary Lawlor, Billy Wynne, Jesse Bushman and Jennie Joseph present the legislative efforts NACPM is involved in to bring about a federal bill that will federally recognize CPM and include CMs in Medicaid coverage. The presentations also cover the critical need for Medicaid reimbursement for CPMs and the strategy for moving legislation forward, and opportunities within the current congress to do so.

WATCH THE MAMA CAMPAIGN WEBINAR

US MERA: How To Put It To Use For CPMs
Jo Anne Myers-Ciecko, Ida Darragh, Kristi Ridd-Young, Mary Lawlor and Ellie Daniels present information on the US MERA principles of model midwifery legislation regulation, the Bridge Certificate, the current range of MEAC-accredited midwifery schools, the incorporation of US MERA agreements into a draft federal bill, and the collaboration among multiple stakeholders in Maine to bring about CPM licensing legislation based on US MERA agreements.

WATCH THE US MERA WEBINAR HERE

NEW Webinars coming next week!

We invite you to join us for two webinars next week:

MAMA Campaign: A New Foundation for Federal Recognition of CPMs
Tuesday, November 17, 2015 from 12:30 to 2:00 pm, ET

Join Marly Lawlor, Billy Wynne, Jesse Bushman and Jennie Joseph and learn about the legislative efforts NACPM is involved in to bring about a federal bill that will federally recognize CPM and include CMs in Medicaid coverage. Hear about the critical need for Medicaid reimbursement for CPMs and learn about the strategy for moving legislation forward, and opportunities within the current congress to do so.

DETAILS AND REGISTRATION INFORMATION FOR MAMA CAMPAIGN WEBINAR

US MERA: How To Put It To Use For CPMs
Thursday, November 19, 2015 from 3:00 to 4:30 pm, ET

Jo Anne Myers-Ciecko, Ida Darragh, Kristi Ridd-Young, Mary Lawlor and Ellie Daniels will present information on the US MERA principles of model midwifery legislation regulation, the Bridge Certificate, the current range of MEAC-accredited midwifery schools, the incorporation of US MERA agreements into a draft federal bill, and the collaboration among multiple stakeholders in Maine to bring about CPM licensing legislation based on US MERA agreements.

DETAILS AND REGISTRATION INFORMATION FOR US MERA WEBINAR

NACPM Second Virtual Annual Meeting

Please join us for our virtual Annual Meeting webinar next Thursday, November 12, 2015 from 2:00 – 4:00 pm ET.  NACPM members, stakeholders and others curious about the work of the professional association can participate in our second virtual Annual Meeting. This will be an opportunity to meet the NACPM Board of Directors, staff, consultants, and volunteers; to learn about the accomplishments, challenges, projects and collaborations of 2015; and to find out how members and stakeholders will help shape NACPM priorities for 2016.
DETAILS IN FULL NEWSLETTER

FIND A MEETING AGENDA AND SUPPORT DOCUMENTS HERE