Our Mission
WE are committed to scaling up and sustaining US Midwifery.
It’s no secret to those who work in women’s healthcare that the United States is experiencing a shortage of providers. At this critical moment in history, the medical community is tasked with providing high quality care without adequate resources. This shortage is part of why the US ranks last among high-income countries for maternal health outcomes.
Midwives are an underutilized resource and we believe this underutilization is due to a lack of understanding surrounding the midwife role within a technology-focused healthcare system. By incorporating Midwives into collaborative care teams, as in other high-income countries, we can address the provider shortage and improve outcomes.
The American College of Nurse-Midwives, as well as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, have described how to incorporate Midwives into a team-based, collaborative care model, but very few obstetric care providers or health systems know how to make this a reality.
The goal of Grow Midwives is to build relationships and educate Physicians, Hospitals, and Midwives about best practices in collaborative experiences. A variety of care models, in a variety of settings, can be implemented with expert assistance . Our aim is to help scale up and sustain Midwifery in the US through four product lines:
- One-on-one assistance with midwives
- Practice development (Obstetrician’s, Family Medicine or Midwives)
- Birth Facility Settings (Accredited, Developing or Alongside Maternity Units
- Advocacy work: In midwifery practice, state legislative work, strategic planning
Our Team
GINGER BREEDLOVE, PhD, CNM, FACNM, FAAN
PRINCIPAL CONSULTANT
Solving the shortage of women’s health care providers in the US is a daunting task that will involve coordinating stakeholders from every level of the medical community. There are few people in the world today who understand this complex issue as well as Ginger Breedlove, PhD, CNM, APRN, FACNM, FAAN.
LESLEY RATHBUN, MSN, CNM, FNP, FACNM
SENIOR CONSULTANT
The main job of any OBGYN or Midwife is to ensure the health of mothers and babies, but birth in the United States is still a business. Lesley Rathbun has spent the last 30 years advocating for women’s health while becoming a well-known figure in the fields of birth center entrepreneurship and legislation.
JOSEPH BOOTH, JD, Mdiv., FAAML
IN-HOUSE COUNSEL
Today’s Physicians and Midwives spend the majority of their early careers learning how to administer care. So much so that learning the legal and business aspects of running a practice simply isn’t feasible. The legalities surrounding maternity care require careful navigation by a knowledgeable advocate.
Connect With Us
Facebook Posts
A premature and devastating loss to the midwifery community. Many maternal health providers around the US knew, worked with, learned from and were mentored by Barbara Hughes.
The notice of her passing yesterday has stunned me. We did a lot together as contemporaries of ACNM over many years sharing a common passion for building leadership in the profession. She was also a catalyst for raising awareness of the business of midwifery. Her recent contributions consulting with @PacificBusinessGroupOnHealth guided two key documents I frequently use and cite others to read to discuss the “Why” Midwives. Helpful resources designed for today’s physician’s and hospitals. Her resume with the March of Dimes is also extensive over many years, as well as her leadership with ACNM CO Affiliate.
I will always have her in my heart as a friend, colleague and forerunner of advancing US Midwifery. 😢🧡
Listen in and be part of change.
This one-hour four panel interview could change how you think, and explains WHY we must demand change in policies and dismantle structural racism that impact the health of childbearing families.
Featuring two friends and #MarchforMoms Board members, Midwife Ebony Marcelle and OB/GYN Neel Shah.
We have the worst outcomes in maternity care of all high-income countries and fall short of many middle-income.
“0:57:39 For every maternal death, there are five women who were saved from the brink of death. That is how bad birth care is now.”
#Knowledgeispower
#GrowMidwives
#2020YearofMidwife
medium.com/@empoweredhealthpodcast/americas-maternal-mortality-crisis-part-1-1caaf1137062
Diverging from midwifery to share despicable news released today.
We would like to believe everyone in the healthcare industry is doing good. This article highlights that HALF of all 2019 rural hospital settings were closed due to a high rolling entrepreneur and his colleagues designing intentional billing schemes.
“Pam Green, a former night charge nurse at the now-shuttered Horton Community Hospital in Horton, Kansas (population under 1,700), said she hopes Perez and his colleagues receive long prison sentences. He just devastated so many people, not just in Kansas, but in Oklahoma and all the other places where he had hospitals,” said Green, 58, of nearby Muscotah, Kansas. “I went months and months without pay, without health insurance. He robbed the community.”
When you design health care based on profiteering from disease and illness, schemes will inevitably emerge. This is 2020 in the US. It is shocking and disturbing. Particularly as it relates to what we know about rural hospital closings and a rapidly growing pandemic.
“Perez and the other defendants took in $400 million since 2015, according to the indictment. Many of the hospitals run or managed by Perez’s Empower companies have since failed as they ran out of money when insurers refused to pay for the suspect billing. HALF of the nation’s rural hospital bankruptcies in 2019 were affiliated with his empire.”
Moral to Midwives considering starting a business — Be careful determining your future business partners.
#BrokenHealthcareSystem
#WhoIsWatching
#WhoIsYourAngelFunder
#MaybeNotAnAngel
khn.org/news/hospital-executive-charged-in-1-4b-rural-hospital-billing-scheme/
Hospital Executive Charged In $1.4B Rural Hospital Billing Scheme
khn.org
In an investigation last year, KHN detailed the rise and fall of Miami businessman Jorge A. Perez’s rural hospital empire, which spanned eight states and encompassed half of the rural hospital bank....July 1 - FL law will advance Midwives autonomy! Congratulations FL ACNM Affiliate.
“Senate Bill 607 significantly expands the scope of nurse practitioners in Florida by authorizing Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs) to engage in autonomous practice of primary care. Primary care includes family medicine, general pediatrics and general internal medicine. An APRN can also practice autonomously if he or she is certified by the American College of Nurse Midwives to engage in midwifery.”
You want to assure Midwives remain vital members of the US health care team?
Engage in fighting for full practice authority as supported by the American Hospital Association, Institute of Medicine, VA, Federal Trade Commission, ACOG, AARP, and many other national organizations.
Here are states still battling various levels of restrictive practice. www.aanp.org/advocacy/state/state-practice-environment
Challenge the naysayers with facts over long-winded unsubstantiated failing status quo. This is just one federally funded, recent 5-year study observing outcomes of midwifery-led care. www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20200622.52532/full/
#GrowMidwives
#FollowtheEvidenceNottheMoney
#2020YearofMidwife
bit.ly/2BilC7G
Scope of Practice and Reproductive Health Changes Coming to Florida | Insights | Holland & Knight
bit.ly
Many new laws passed by the Florida Legislature during the 2020 session go into effect on July 1. Two bills that are among those that will have an impact on medical practices are Senate Bill 607 and S...Where are the midwives?
This free article from JMWH in January reviews CNM and CM numbers, location of practice and addresses the need for expanding the women's health care workforce.
"Restrictive practice environments remain a barrier to a
women’s access to maternity and reproductive health services from CNMs/CMs. Establishing regulatory frameworks that allow autonomous midwifery practice in states with currently more restrictive environments has the potential to significantly improve access for women to maternity care services and help relieve the growing problem of women struggling to find maternity care.37,38 The visual evidence provided herein of large areas of the United States with no access to midwives and related research documenting the rise of maternity care deserts establishes that the time for regulatory reform is at
hand."
For those who know the work of Dr. Gene Declercq and his team at Boston University School of Public Health, this most recent analysis casts insight into WHY Midwifery practices can close without cause or explanation.
Barriers to full scope midwifery care is rooted in the lack of autonomy as a profession - a recognized, highly regarded profession in every other high-income country.
#TheMoreYouKnow
#GrowMidwives
#FullScopePractice
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/jmwh.13007