Community preparedness for perinatal emergencies

Step Up Together provides quality improvement training and education across the primary maternity care ecosystem, which includes community-based care models, outpatient care, home-based care, community hospitals, critical access hospitals, emergency medical services, transport services, and community service agencies.

As QI experts in this realm, we invite the broader health care system to step up in advancing safety and equity across the entire spectrum of maternity care.

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Program History

Launched in May 2021 as the PMC Community Network, Step Up Together was developed by the PMC Consultant Team to support and enhance midwifery-led and community-integrated care models.

Starting with free community-building events online, it transitioned to its first fee-based program, Step Up Together: Improving Drills in Community Birth, in fall 2021. The pilot engaged 20 professionals across 13 states, leading to significant improvements and positive participant feedback.

Thanks to generous funding from United Healthcare Community & State, Step Up Together’s 2024 Action Collaborative launched on January 9, 2024, and is comprised of the 11 birth center-hospital dyads listed below.

2024 Action Collaborative

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Step Up Together is a quality improvement program for the primary maternity care ecosystem, which includes community-based care models, outpatient care, home-based care, community hospitals, critical access hospitals, emergency medical services, transport services, and community service agencies.

  • The 2024 Action Collaborative meets seven times from January through May. Each session features educational content, a review of tools and best practices, discussion, and Q&A. These sessions provide the tools and information for teams and partner facilities/services to conduct emergency drills at their convenience.

  • Participants receive a Drill Implementation Toolkit with scenarios and drills to conduct. This toolkit includes intrapartum, postpartum, and neonatal emergencies. Teams choose which clinical emergency to drill as a practice and all participants will conduct a full transfer drill on the same clinical emergency/scenario.

  • Applications for the 2024 Action Collaborative are closed. For future sessions, we are looking for birth center and hospital dyads who are jointly committed to strengthening their collaborative relationship, engaging in continuous quality improvement processes, and improving their emergency response and transfer processes.

    Toolkits will be available online in fall 2024. Interested in coaching and implementation support for your organization? We can help! Learn more here.

Missed the sign-up for the 2024 Action Collaborative? Primary Maternity Care provides coaching and technical support across the spectrum of birth settings.

How PMC Can Help

  • Coaching

    PMC’s faculty has the expertise and experience in quality improvement across the spectrum of birth settings to help you and your team pinpoint areas of improvement in your toolkit implementation and get you on the right track.

  • Implementation Support

    In addition to coaching, we design and implement systems that improve outcomes, equity, and safety that keep teams motivated to continuously improve.

  • Strategy

    We partner with health systems and provider groups to understand the evolving landscape of payment and accountability, assess existing primary care systems, and develop strategies to optimize them for better care and outcomes.