Navigating New Motherhood: Interventions to increase postpartum care in an urban prenatal care clinic

Interpregnancy health care is a critical component of promoting healthy mothers and newborns. Postpartum mothers require attention to women-centered primary care health needs including contraception as well as follow-up of abnormal blood sugars or blood pressures. The postpartum visit presents an opportunity to initiate and set the continued engagement with ongoing attention to primary care. The current postpartum visit rate at Northwestern Memorial Hospital Prentice Ambulatory Care (PAC) clinic is approximately 55.0%, which is lower than previously published follow up rates of 80.1% among commercial HMO plan enrollees. We aim to improve the quality and quantity of postpartum care sought by our population of underserved women by developing a postpartum patient navigation program. This intervention may increase the postpartum visit rate among PAC clinic patients. This intervention consists of three parts: 1) to shift the responsibility of scheduling the postpartum visit from the patient to clinic personnel; 2) to deliver a reminder to the patient prior to her scheduled appointment; and 3) to connect the patient to long-term primary care providers appropriate for her medical needs. Several forms of program evaluation will be employed.