Babies Born Healthy

About the Program

Category: Health (Best in Category)

Year: 2020

The Montgomery County Babies Born Healthy (BBH) Program is a grant-funded program from the Maryland Department of Health, initiated in response to the county’s disparities in infant mortality rates. Babies Born Healthy is a comprehensive program utilizing public health nurses and community health workers to deliver targeted care coordination services to pregnant African American women receiving Medicaid, who reside in one of three of the county’s zip codes where the population is at highest risk for adverse pregnancy outcomes. Components of the program include community outreach, care coordination, screening, community education, and ensuring that program participants are receiving prenatal care and other needed health and social service resources. With the goal of helping maintain healthy pregnancies and babies, the program has a strong referral networks with local agencies and follows up and addresses social determinants of health with all program participants. The program tries to break down barriers to receiving medical and social service care by providing support with transportation and child care while also providing cribs and car seats to ensure infant safety. The program integrates data to continually refine and improve its approach and meet evaluation requirements.