Prince George’s County health department leaders told the County Council, sitting as the Board of Health, that maternal and infant health disparities remain urgent and described a set of programmatic steps and policy priorities to address them.

"Maternal health has been one of the biggest issues that we've had in the county and the state. We have a high infant mortality rate for being a county with as much wealth as we have," Council member Begay said, opening the briefing and urging the council to focus resources on prenatal and postpartum care.

The health department presentation reviewed epidemiology, county programs and near‑term priorities. Officials reported that, based on 2016–2020 vital statistics, Prince George’s County ranked third in the state for pregnancy‑related deaths (11 over that five‑year period) and third for pregnancy‑associated deaths, behind Baltimore City and Baltimore County. Health presenters noted that more recent data (2023) are delayed and that state and local systems will be used to produce updated counts.

Health department staff described the scope of current services: the Reproductive Health and Resource Center (RHRC) averages roughly 2,000 family‑planning visits per year (FY23–FY25) and identified 72 newly pregnant clients last year; long‑acting reversible contraceptive placements declined from 133 in FY23 to 53 in FY25. The Healthy Beginnings case‑management program for infants (birth–age 1) had roughly 600–650 referrals annually and has provided case management to about 1,500 unduplicated mothers over the past three fiscal years. Referrals for mental‑health and substance‑use services numbered about 17 last year, down from roughly 30 in earlier years.

The presentation highlighted the postpartum hypertensive collaborative, which pairs a registered nurse home visit with a telehealth contact within three days after delivery for high‑risk patients. Officials said the program provides blood‑pressure cuffs when Medicaid does not deliver them in time, teaches home monitoring, and seeks to reduce readmissions by at least 15 percent while achieving at least 85 percent compliance with postpartum blood‑pressure checks.

To illustrate gaps in care and provider response, the department presented a case study ("Jasmine") in which symptoms of preeclampsia were reportedly minimized, prompting delayed care and an emergency cesarean delivery; presenters used the example to emphasize implicit bias and microaggressions as contributors to delayed recognition of life‑threatening conditions.

County leaders outlined additional components of the maternal‑child portfolio: dental care at the Chevrolet maternal‑child health site (preventive and basic restorative services on a sliding fee for uninsured patients, with medical assistance covering services for enrolled clients), TB surveillance, STI and HIV surveillance (noting one recent perinatal HIV transmission after a 25‑year stretch without any), pediatric care at the Laurel maternal and child health center, WIC services (state funding secured through mid‑December), and the newly funded Black Maternal Health initiative.

"This year, we added the Black maternal health initiative, thanks to this council's $250,000 award," a presenter said, describing plans to hire a county doula who will lead community education about doulas, how they differ from midwives, and how to access reimbursable services.

Presenters described hospital partnerships and a strategy to expand a successful Capital Regional Health model to other systems. The department urged hospitals to implement AIM (Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health) bundles for hypertension and hemorrhage and said roughly 40 percent of county residents deliver at Holy Cross Hospital; officials plan to broaden partnerships to MedStar and other regional hospitals so county residents who deliver outside the county can still get coordinated postpartum follow‑up.

On data, the department said federal data sources have diminished and that the county is building real‑time maternal health intelligence through interoperability with CRISP and Epic and by disaggregating data by race, ethnicity, geography and insurance status. The goal is to move from retrospective reporting to predictive analytics that identify at‑risk mothers earlier.

Council members questioned staffing and site access: officials said Healthy Beginnings contacts decreased after a 2023 state funding shift (Title V) redirected resources; the county's additional $250,000 will allow hiring needed staff and expanding face‑to‑face and home‑visit capacity. Staff said the Healthy Beginnings team is based at Chevrolet and the Laurel maternal‑child health center but that services are taken into the community via mobile units and home visits; if needed, the department will assess and open satellite locations.

Council members urged reconsideration of service placement inside the Capital Beltway and asked about program caps and referral triggers. Staff clarified that the three‑day postpartum visit program is currently linked to hospital referral pathways (Capital Region Medical Center refers high‑risk patients now; expansion to MedStar is planned) and that hospitals notify the health department so a nurse visit can occur within three days after delivery.

The health department asked the council to support performance‑based contracting, continued transparency and reporting, expanded coverage for postpartum visits across payers, funding for data modernization, and measures to ensure universal doula access.

The board had additional questions about the timing of updated vital‑statistics data; staff said 2023 numbers are expected but not yet dated because of delays in vital statistics reporting and changes in federal data sources. The meeting concluded with agreement to continue advisory‑board work and education campaigns on doula benefits and postpartum supports.

The Board of Health session concluded after a motion to adjourn.