Every mother deserves the best possible care, but a new report highlights an alarming reality: Indiana, like many states across the U.S., is failing mothers.
The 2024 State-by-State Report Cards released by the Center for Maternal Mental Health Policy reveal that our nation’s maternal mental health system is severely inadequate. The U.S. received an overall grade of D+. Indiana matches this disappointing national average, revealing significant gaps in care and support for mothers.
The report card evaluates what’s working and what’s not and serves as an important roadmap for policymakers to develop needed policies and supports. The report measures three key areas, with Indiana receiving a grade of D for providers and programs, and screening and screening reimbursement. The state received a slightly better grade of C for coverage and treatment.
Providers and Programs: Indiana faces a severe shortage of maternal mental health providers. Additionally, the state lacks both inpatient and outpatient maternal mental health treatment programs. This shortage leaves many women without the support they need during one of the most vulnerable times in their lives.
Screening and Screening Refunds: Early identification and treatment of maternal mental health issues is essential. Yet Indiana has a poor record in this area, failing to meet standards set by experts for prenatal and postpartum depression screening. Our Medicaid system also falls short, failing to require managed care organizations to report these important screening criteria.
Insurance Coverage and Treatment: Insurance coverage is essential to accessing maternal mental health care. Indiana has adopted beneficial policies such as expanding Medicaid and extending postpartum care under the Healthy Indiana Plan. However, the state still lacks a mandate for health plans to develop maternal mental health quality management programs, resulting in poor oversight and implementation of essential services.
Healthier Moms and Babies works to prevent infant mortality and improve pregnancy outcomes through a range of programs that address maternal mental health. Maternal mental health disorders during pregnancy can lead to adverse outcomes such as premature birth and infant mortality.
Mental health-related deaths are the leading cause of maternal deaths in Indiana, and the state has the third-highest maternal mortality rate in the nation.
To address this, all staff at Healthier Moms and Babies are trained by Postpartum Support International in screening for maternal mental health disorders, and two of our therapists are the only certified perinatal mental health therapists in Northeast Indiana.
Healthier Moms and Babies partners with Alliance Health Centers to refer clients to Delaney Baumann, a psychiatric nurse practitioner who is the only certified provider of perinatal mental health in northeast Indiana, and her completion of Postpartum Support International’s psychopharmacology course further enhances our community’s ability to effectively address these important issues.
This is critical because it can take weeks for the women we serve to be prescribed mental health medications. With this partnership, the 1,200 women served by Healthier Moms and Babies will be able to get more time to see a doctor who understands the special needs of prescribing maternal mental health medications to pregnant and new mothers.
Healthier Moms and Babies launched the Every Birth Network, a collaboration between community organizations, government, churches and health care providers, to improve the health of mothers and babies in Allen County, and one of the focus areas is maternal mental health.
Mission Motherhood is a local non-profit organization dedicated to providing peer-led mental health support to all mothers, helping them feel heard, understood, and listened to. They offer support groups for mothers struggling with pregnancy loss, infant loss, older child loss, and maternal mental health disorders.
Jennifer Norris Hale, founder and CEO of Mission Motherhood, emphasizes the organization’s mission: “I tell the stories of mothers who believed they were part of the problem, who felt hopeless and without anywhere to turn. We, as mothers, are not the problem. We are the solution.”
“As a community, we must improve access and support for all mothers. Improving maternal mental health in our state requires each of us to do our part. We are in this together, but we cannot do it alone. We were never meant to.”
“The findings from the State Report Card on Maternal Mental Health are a stark reminder of the urgent need for comprehensive policy changes and support systems to address maternal mental health issues in Indiana. Policymakers must act now to close these gaps and ensure that mothers who lack access to proper diagnosis and treatment do not suffer from maternal mental health disorders.”
Our mothers and their children deserve much more than that.
Paige Wilkins She is the CEO of Healthier Moms and Babies.
