Pregnancy Partners: A Patient Navigator solution to improve access to early prenatal care

Low-income women in Clark County, Washington, receive late prenatal care. There is a large disparity (44% difference) between the percent of non-Medicaid women and the percent of Medicaid women receiving first trimester prenatal care. A multidisciplinary public health team analyzed the problem using both quantitative and qualitative methods. This team used quality improvement tools to identify root cause barriers to early prenatal care and classify these barriers into three categories: client-centered barriers, health care provider barriers and Medicaid system barriers. The team shared findings from data analysis, client and healthcare provider focus groups and key informant interviews with community stakeholders, including information learned from women on Medicaid, at community forums. Public Health and the stakeholders developed strategies to address the barriers at all three levels. This presentation will describe the steps our community took to reduce this disparity. We will describe how we identified the social determinants of late prenatal care and the strategies our community employed to resolve the problem. The two strategies we will describe in the presentation include our Pregnancy Resource Guide, developed with input from women on Medicaid, and our patient navigator program, Pregnancy Partners. Women in this program have received assistance in navigating the Medicaid system, enrolling in a managed care plan, finding a provider, and they receive referrals for other services such as transportation, childcare, and food assistance.