State health officials outline maternal-health strategy emphasizing substance-use treatment, prematurity prevention and new federal TEMA grant

State public‑health officials and community advocates told the Senate Select Committee on Women and Children on Jan. 15 that substance use, prematurity and gaps in postpartum care are the state’s most urgent maternal‑health challenges, and they outlined a multi‑pronged strategy including quality‑improvement work, grant funds and expanded residential treatment capacity for pregnant women.

“Louisiana ranks 5th in maternal mortality,” Dr. Veronica Gillespie Bell, medical director of the Louisiana Perinatal Quality Collaborative (LAPQC) and an OBGYN, told the committee. Her presentation to the panel linked the state’s maternal‑mortality data to social drivers of health and to a sustained increase in pregnancy‑associated deaths tied to accidental overdoses. “Accidental overdoses has is the leading cause of pregnancy associated deaths in Louisiana,” Dr. Gillespie Bell said, and she described programs that aim to screen and link pregnant people to treatment during delivery and postpartum care.

LDH described three main avenues of work: the LAPQC’s hospital‑level quality improvement activities (including AIM patient‑safety bundles and…