• Military medicine · Aug 2024

    Understanding VA Maternity Care Coordinators Interactions and Collaboration With Primary Care Providers.

    • Amy H Farkas, Katherine Bopp, Florine Ndakuya-Fitzgerald, Alexa A Lopez, Kristin O Haeger, Jeffrey Whittle, and Qiyan Mu.
    • Division of General Internal Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, Wauwatosa, WI 53226, USA.
    • Mil Med. 2024 Aug 30.

    IntroductionMaternal morbidity is higher among the Veteran population in part because of high rates of chronic medical and mental health conditions. To improve care for pregnant Veterans, the Department of Veteran Affairs created the position of the Maternity Care Coordinator (MCC) to provide care coordination during a Veteran's pregnancy. Maternity Care Coordinators must work with primary care providers (PCPs); yet, little is known about their collaboration and interaction. The objective of this work is to better understand how MCCs interact with PCPs.MethodBetween March and May of 2021, we conducted qualitative interviews with 30 MCCs using a semi-structured interview guide to learn about their role and interactions with PCPs.ResultsWe identified 3 main themes in interactions between MCCs and PCPs, which correlated to times during the Veteran's pregnancy: initial interactions, care coordination during the pregnancy, and end of pregnancy transitions of care. Most MCCs indicated a positive and collaborative relationship with PCPs. There was significant variability in how closely MCCs worked with PCPs. MCCs reported that PCPs were not always comfortable caring for pregnant Veterans.DiscussionAlthough MCCs generally indicated a positive and collaborative interaction with PCPs, our data suggest that there are opportunities to improve communication between PCPs and MCCs and to educate PCPs on knowledge of maternity benefits, the role of the MCC, and how to care for pregnant and postpartum Veterans. The Veteran Affairs MCC can also serve as a model for other health systems aiming to improve care coordinator among pregnant patients.Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States 2024. This work is written by (a) US Government employee(s) and is in the public domain in the US.

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