Welcome to the MCH Innovations Database, is a searchable repository of “what’s working” in MCH (aka practice-based evidence) which includes effective practices and policies from the field that are positively impacting MCH populations. Practices are assessed along a continuum and receive a designation of Cutting-Edge, Emerging, Promising, or Best depending on their work’s demonstrated impact, among other criteria. Policies are assessed against a rubric and then given a designation of Evidence-Informed Policy Development, Policy Implementation, or Policy Evaluation.
For additional MCH specific evidence-based/informed strategies, check out the MCHbest Database which summarizes the science of what works from the peer-reviewed literature.
Cutting-Edge Practice
Increasing Inclusivity and Representation of MCH Populations in Emergency Preparedness and Response in Tennessee
This practice strengthens statewide emergency preparedness by embedding maternal and child health (MCH) populations into planning, response, and recovery through dedicated staffing, annexes and guidance documents, and exercise-based training.
Read MoreEmerging Practice
Missouri Maternal Health Action Network: Building Sustainable Infrastructure to Improve Maternal Behavioral Health Outcomes
The Missouri Maternal Health Action Network, grounded in the Strengthening Families Framework, is committed to developing a sustainable statewide infrastructure that coordinates, strengthens, and supports services that improve behavioral health outcomes for mothers, children, and families affected by perinatal substance use.
Read MoreEvidence-Informed Tool
PATCH for Teens Lessons
The PATCH for Teens Lessons is an initiative of the Providers and Teens Communicating for Health (PATCH) Program – a program committed to improving adolescent health outcomes in partnership with youth. This series of five lessons provides schools, community-based organizations, health care systems, and other partners with the content and resources to deliver an introduction to health care for youth in grades 6-12.
Read MoreEvidence-Informed Tool
PATCH for Parents Lesson
PATCH for Parents supports adults in guiding teens through the transition to more independent health care. Parents, guardians, and caregivers often want to help but may feel unsure how to start, especially as teens become ready to take on more responsibility. This tool addresses that need by offering structured guidance, practical strategies, and discussion prompts to help adults engage with teens on topics such as patient-provider relationships, teen rights, and health care responsibilities.
Read MorePromising Practice
Substance Use Network (SUN) Project
The SUN Project is a cross-sector care coordination system with the legal infrastructure to securely share protected information across medical, behavioral health, and social services, enabling evidence-based treatment for pregnant women with substance use disorders with evidence of reduced out-of-home placements, stronger perinatal clinic performance, and systems-level change.
Read MoreCutting-Edge Practice
Tennessee MCHBG Asana Workflow Model
This practice implemented a standardized Asana-based workflow that improved coordination, accountability, and efficiency throughout the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant application and reporting process.
Read MoreCutting-Edge Practice
Authentic Family Experience: Using a Co-Design Framework
Assuring Better Child Health & Development (ABCD) advances effective early childhood systems by partnering across sectors to co-design solutions with families, ensuring their lived experiences drive policies, programs, and practices that promote whole-child and family well-being.
Read MoreCutting-Edge Practice
New York State Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) Vaccination and Pregnancy Media Campaign
The New York State Department of Health’s Division of Family Health developed the Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) Vaccination and Pregnancy Media Campaign to promote COVID-19 vaccinations to protect pregnant women, women planning to become pregnant, and breastfeeding women or women in the postpartum period against severe outcomes from COVID-19.
Read MoreCutting-Edge Practice
Howell County Women’s Health Services Program
The Howell County Health Department is a subrecipient of Title V MCH Block Grant funding from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, Maternal Child Health (MCH) contract, with the purpose to support a leadership role within the local community, building community-based systems and expanding the resources those systems have to address priority maternal child health issues.
Read MorePromising Practice
Ohio Department of Health Youth Homelessness Program
The Ohio Department of Health Youth Homelessness Program supports the work of local community organizations taking an innovative approach to serve Ohio youth experiencing homelessness. The program specifically focuses on unaccompanied homeless youth who are 14 to 24 years of age, with an emphasis on pregnant or parenting youth.
Read MoreBest Practice
The Cycle of Engagement Well Visit Planner Approach to Care
The Cycle of Engagement Well Visit Planner (COE WVP) Approach is an evidence-based, whole-child and family-centered model developed by the Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative (CAHMI) that provides digital tools to support high-quality, personalized care while streamlining collaboration across health care, home visiting, and other state and local early childhood systems.
Read MorePolicy Development, Policy Implementation
CenteringPregnancy – Medicaid Enhanced Payment for Group Prenatal Care
CenteringPregnancy - Medicaid Enhanced Payment for Group Prenatal Care is a policy focused on enhanced payment and alternative payment models for evidence-based group prenatal care. These are effective strategies for states to incentivize providers to utilize a model of care that reduces health disparities and increases birth outcomes while saving payers precious reinvestment dollars.
Read MoreThis project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under grant number U01MC00001 Partnership for State Title V MCH Leadership Community Cooperative Agreement ($1,696,335). This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.