Evaluating a public health partnership to enhance prenatal care and improve birth outcomes in Bexar County, Texas

A declining public health infrastructure, rising healthcare costs, and an increase in utilization of healthcare services, and demographic changes in the population have led public health entities (i.e., public hospitals, clinics and related research institutions) to recognize the importance of combining resources and expertise that will improve and strengthen the effective delivery of healthcare.

Provision of health services to women in particular remains of paramount importance in helping address national health priorities and reduce longstanding racial/ethnic disparities in women's health. Bexar County Hospital District d/b/a University Health System, in coordination with the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District and the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio recently entered into a partnership to enhance preventive health and clinical services to the women of Bexar County, focusing initially in the provision of prenatal care. Key stakeholders and representatives from partner institutions formed a planning task force known as Joint Planning and Operations Council (JPOC). While the broad vision of JPOC is to enhance to access to healthcare, providing quality, efficient, and accessible prenatal care is considered a first-step in this collaborative venture.

Public health partnerships have the potential to leverage and combine resources (clinical expertise, infrastructure, and preventive services) needed to facilitate a continuum of care in the area of women health services. Examples include: pregnancy testing, prenatal care, labor and delivery, postnatal care and family planning. Through these activities, partnering institutions are developing the next generation of preventive and clinical care for women in Bexar County.