ILPQC CDC (FY) 2021 COVID-19 Supplemental funds

Although the overall risk of severe illness is low, pregnant people are at increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommends that COVID-19 vaccines should be available to pregnant people and offered to lactating individuals similar to non-lactating individuals. The most influential factor in people’s decision-making about vaccines is a strong recommendation from a medical professional. In the coming year and beyond, birthing hospitals and obstetric providers and nurses will play an essential role in equitable delivery of COVID-19 vaccinations among pregnant people. The Illinois Perinatal Quality Collaborative (ILPQC) is well positioned to support birthing hospitals to improve provider capacity for equitable delivery of COVID-19 vaccinations and increase the number of facilities that implement protocols for COVID-19 screening and vaccination. ILPQC a multi-disciplinary, multi-stakeholder Perinatal Quality Collaborative with 107 Illinois hospitals participating in one or more Quality Improvement (QI) initiatives. ILPQC supports participating hospitals’ implementation of evidence-based practices using QI science, collaborative learning, and rapid response data. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, ILPQC collaborated with the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) and the IDPH Perinatal Advisory Committee to leverage the ILPQC infrastructure to facilitate information sharing and support for IL birthing hospitals, providers, and nurses who care for pregnant persons and newborns across the state during the COVID-19 pandemic. ILPQC offered regular webinars starting with weekly, then twice a month, now monthly, and a COVID-19 resource page on the ilpqc.org website. This supplemental funding opportunity would help sustain and enhance ILPQC’s efforts to further support Illinois birthing hospitals by sharing best practices for increasing COVID-19 vaccine confidence, equitable access to vaccines, and administration among populations of pregnant people disproportionately impacted by COVID. This supplemental funding opportunity would support continuation, expansion, and measurement of the impact of the ILPQC COVID-19 support provided to Illinois birthing hospitals. ILPQC will work to (A) improve provider capacity for equitable delivery of COVID-19 vaccinations and (B) increase the number of facilities that implement protocols for COVID-19 screening and vaccination of pregnant and postpartum people and their families through collaborative-learning webinars with state and national expert speakers, resource sharing on the COVID-19 page of the ilpqc.org website, and targeted outreach and connection to resources for hospital teams to help them identify and implement protocols.