	South Carolina Maternal Health Innovation Collaborative
Power in Partnership	Program Vision & Goals	Innovations	Leadership & Direction	Task Force (MHTF)

South Carolina Maternal Health Innovation Collaborative

The South Carolina Department of Public Health (SCDPH) was awarded a five-year State Maternal Health Innovation (MHI) grant as part of the third cohort of states funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) from September 2023 to August 2028.

The purpose of the State MHI program is to reduce maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity (SMM) by:

Improving access to care that is comprehensive, high-quality, appropriate, and on-going throughout the preconception, prenatal, labor and delivery, and postpartum periods;
Enhancing state maternal health surveillance and data capacity; and
Identifying and implementing innovative interventions to improve outcomes for populations disproportionately impacted by maternal mortality and SMM.

Innovate, Collaborate & Elevate

The South Carolina Maternal Health Innovation Collaborative (SCMHIC) is built on prior successes within the South Carolina Birth Outcomes Initiative (SCBOI) and existing strong capacity to access diverse sources of maternal health data. Being able to leverage this existing foundation brings power in partnership to innovate, collaborate, and elevate to transform maternal health together.

SCMHIC engages community partners and individuals with living expertise, all united by a shared goal: to turn the tide on maternal morbidity and mortality. Our aims seek to avoid replication, and by building on the strengths of these individual initiatives, we can improve maternal outcomes together.

These strengths facilitate SCMHIC aims to develop its newly formed Maternal Health Task Force, improve access to maternal care services, identify and address workforce needs, increase data reporting capacity, and foster maternal health literacy and empowerment by providing access to culturally responsive and linguistically appropriate resources. The scope of work is grounded by a commitment to engage community partners and moms with living expertise.

Having the SCMHIC housed within SCDPH allows the grant’s intentions of collaboration and promotion of innovation to directly benefit the work of our state’s Title V program and SC Maternal Morbidity and Mortality Review Committee (SCMMMRC), which are also administered by SCDPH. Likewise, our core implementation and evaluation partner, the University of South Carolina Institute for Families in Society (IFS), has provided technical assistance, consultation, and evaluation to SCBOI since its inception, allowing SCMHIC to support existing quality improvement efforts, expand simulation training to non-obstetric providers, and identify maternal care service area gaps. It will take this power in partnership with the support of the core leadership team to effectively change the system of care.

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Vision and Goals

Our vision is a South Carolina where every birthing person thrives within a unified, forward-thinking, and inclusive maternal health environment. We aspire to lead in transforming maternal health outcomes through collaborative efforts, ensuring that all South Carolinians have support for person-centered, high-quality care, enabling them to flourish.

Overarching Program Goals from 2023-2028

The overarching goal is to improve maternal health outcomes by collaboration and promoting innovation in maternal health to advance, develop, foster, and support innovations across four essential drivers for change—maternal health service delivery systems, workforce development, data collection and reporting, and community engagement through diverse partnerships and supported efforts. This will be accomplished via the following objectives:

Establish a state-focused Maternal Health Task Force (MHTF) to guide and support the implementation of a strategic plan that incorporates activities outlined in South Carolina's most recent State Title V Needs Assessment and the recommendations from the Maternal Mortality Review Committee (MMMRC).
Enhance the accessibility, coordination, and utilization of state level data on maternal mortality, morbidity, and associated drivers.
Improve maternal health service delivery statewide by enhancing care coordination, expanding access to services, and fostering innovation and community collaboration to build a more robust and effective healthcare system.
Strengthen the maternal health workforce through cross-sector partnerships, capacity building initiatives, and the development of enhanced training opportunities for healthcare providers and birth workers.
Equip healthcare providers, organizations, and community members with resources that promote maternal and perinatal health literacy, empowering individuals to make informed decisions and recognize early warning signs of potential complications.

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Maternal Health Innovations

The following SCMHIC innovations will be implemented during years 2-4 iteratively with feedback from community partners, OB clinical educators, moms with living expertise, and MHTF members. A final evaluation and dissemination of findings will occur in year 5.

An accessible online data application that integrates and visualizes maternal health data, including community-informed data, allowing users to filter information by ZIP code and other geographic levels to support data-driven decision-making and targeted interventions.
A low-fidelity, easily accessible curriculum designed to improve knowledge and skills related to obstetric emergencies and maternal health care.
A simulation-based curriculum and dissemination plan that leverages SIMCoach^TM to educate non-birthing hospitals, family medicine providers, emergency department physicians, and non-obstetric clinical and community personnel on responding to obstetric emergencies.
An online, interactive maternal health resource hub that integrates an AI chatbot, designed to provide users with personalized access to relevant maternal health information.
A Perinatal Advisory Council to expert guidance, facilitate collaboration among stakeholders, and inform decisions aimed at improving maternal and perinatal health outcomes in South Carolina.
A small grant awards project to support community groups committed to improving maternal health and early health literacy, fostering grassroots involvement and impact.
A multifaceted, multiplatform communication model for state, local, and national maternal health organizations.

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Program Leadership & Direction

Core Leadership Team

Click on a member's name to view an introduction and bio.
For more information, please contact Ladrea S. Williams-Briggs, DrPH, MS, South Carolina Maternal Health Innovation Grant Manager (willials@dph.sc.gov).
SC Department of Public Health		KRISTEN SHEALY, MSPH Principal Investigator Email: shealykh@dph.sc.gov
		LADREA S. WILLIAMS-BRIGGS, DrPH, MS Grant Manager Email: WilliaLS@dph.sc.gov
		NICHOLAS RESCINITI, PhD, MPH, CPH Senior Epidemiologist Email: rescinnv@dph.sc.gov
CORE IMPLEMENTATION AND EVALUATION PARTNER: University of South Carolina Institute for Families in Society		ANA LÓPEZ – DE FEDE, PhD Co-Principal Investigator Distinguished Research Professor Emerita Email: ADEFEDE@mailbox.sc.edu
		SARAH GAREAU, DrPH, MEd, MCHES Co-Principal Investigator Assistant Professor Email: GAREAU@mailbox.sc.edu

SCMHIC Task Force

Engaging community partners and individuals with living expertise is not just a part of our aims, but a crucial element that we value and consider integral to our approach. With that in mind, the Maternal Health Task Force (MHTF) is comprised of a diverse group of members from a wide range of organizations across the state, including participation from educational entities and research partners, community organizers and partners, media and information groups, public health organizations, individuals with living expertise, and clinical and provider organizations. The inaugural meeting of the SC MHTF was held on Thursday, August 22, 2024, at the SC Archives and History Building.

The first meeting was collaborative and energizing with a focus on providing background, building partnerships, reviewing data-driven needs, identifying strategies, and planning next steps. Materials from the meetings may be reviewed here.

See the full listing of the state's MHTF Membership by Organization (February 2025) here.

Download thumbnails for SCMHIC Task Force.

Work Groups

The MHTF will be divided into four workgroups based on the project’s key aims. Each task force member is assigned to a work group based on their expressed area of interest and their area of work. The MHTF Workgroups include:

Maternal Health Data (May 2025)
Maternal Health Service Delivery (May 2025)
Maternal Health Workforce Development (May 2025)
Maternal Health Literacy and Empowerment (May 2025)

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