Perinatal quality collaboratives: improving care for mothers and infants.

Perinatal morbidity and mortality are key indicators of a nation's health status. These measures of our nation's health are influenced by decisions made in health care facilities and by health care providers. As our health systems and health care for women and infants can be improved, there is an expectation that these measures of health will also improve. State-based perinatal quality collaboratives (PQCs) are networks of perinatal care providers including hospitals, clinicians, and public health professionals working to improve pregnancy outcomes for women and newborns through continuous quality improvement. Members of the collaborative are healthcare facilities, primarily hospitals, which identify processes of care that require improvement and then use the best available methods to effect change and improve outcomes as quickly as possible. The Division of Reproductive Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is collaborating with state-based PQCs to enhance their ability to improve perinatal care by expanding the range of neonatal and maternal health issues addressed and including higher proportions of participating hospitals in their state PQC. The work of PQCs is cross-cutting and demonstrates how partnerships can act to translate evidence-based science to clinical care.