The California Maternal Mental Health Collaborative recently launched its national campaign, called the 2020 Mom Project, to increase screening and treatment for maternal mental health disorders like postpartum depression by the year 2020.
There have been numerous efforts to assist obstetricians (OBGYNs) and primary care providers, such as pediatricians, in screening for mental health problems, but due to a number of challenges — including OBGYNs and pediatricians declaring they don’t have enough time and don’t know where to refer patients for help — most women and their families aren’t being informed, screened and provided treatment.
The CMMHC developed a framework for the 2020 Mom Project that offers recommendations for stakeholders, such as insurers and hospitals. Any insurer or hospital can adopt the recommendations by reviewing the guidelines and signing an on-line agreement including the date they will complete implementation. This information is then available for anyone to search on line. The recommendations will be updated each year, and adopters can choose to adopt the latest, more stringent recommendations, or an earlier version.
Cigna was the first Insurer-Adopter and Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital and the NorthShore University Health System were the first to adopt the hospital recommendations. We’ll let you know who else signs on to the 2020 Mom Project.
