The Impact of Prenatal Care Coordination on Birth Outcomes

Abstract

Objective To measure the impact of a Medicaid benefit called Prenatal Care Coordination (PNCC) on healthy birth outcomes. Design A cross-sectional design was used to compare the birth outcomes of infants born to women who received Medicaid and PNCC services to the birth outcomes of infants born to women who received Medicaid but did not receive PNCC services. Setting Services were provided in community based settings in Wisconsin. Participants Of the 45,406 Medicaid births in 2001 to 2002, 10,715 (23.6%) mothers received PNCC services and were considered the treatment group. Methods Secondary analyses of birth certificate and Medicaid billing data were conducted using binary logistic regression analyses to evaluate the impact of PNCC and the hours of PNCC service on birth outcomes. Results Controlling for nine covariates, women who received PNCC services were found to have significantly better birth outcomes, including fewer low-birth-weight infants (odds ratio [OR]=0.84; 95% CI [.777, .912]), fewer very-low-birth-weight infants (OR=0.70; 95% CI [.587, .855]), fewer preterm infants (OR=0.83; 95% CI [.776, .890]), and fewer infants transferred to the neonatal intensive care units (OR=.83; 95% CI [.759, .906]). Women who received 6 or more hours of service were less likely to deliver infants with poor birth outcomes. Conclusions The use of PNCC is an effective strategy for preventing adverse birth outcomes. Strategies to further enhance PNCC's positive benefits include increase…