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 along four dimensions of Evidence, Equity, Relevance, and Impact 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.
Emerging Practice
Youth Advisory Board Toolkit
Over the past four years, the Indiana Department of Health has worked to build a Youth Advisory Board and create a space for meaningful youth engagement. After much planning, the first Indiana Youth Advisory Board (IYAB) was formed in June 2022. The board has grown from a promising idea to a meaningful component of Indiana’s behavioral health landscape. Launched in 2022 as a joint venture between the Indiana Department of Health (IDOH) and Department of Mental Health and Addiction (DMHA), the first IYAB included a group of 45 young people, ranging in age from 14 to 24. The second cohort consists of 60 new youth and six returning leaders from the first cohort. Their collective energy, commitment, and hard work has had a significant impact on how Indiana understands and addresses the health needs of adolescents and young adults. All youth serve as paid board members to the department of health and the team consistently strives to have youth lead the work – impacting youth and young adults most significantly by giving them a voice and space in state government. The board aims to impact the future of Hoosier youth and young adults by amplifying their voices when it comes to health needs and empowering them to educate, change, and lead.
Read MoreCutting-Edge Practice
The R.U.S.H. Initiative
The R.U.S.H. Initiative is designed to make critical health context available for every patient with special health needs, across the regional Responder community — to every firefighter, medic, public safety officer, physician, nurse and school nurse — at no cost to them…FOREVER. In an emergency—if the phone used to call 9-1-1 wasn’t flagged at a dispatch center—Responders know nothing about the patient’s special health needs. Lack of real-time awareness when responding can lead to errors due to a lack of context. “What would you have done differently if you knew about the patient’s special health needs?” is a traumatic question to patients, families, and every care provider. The R.U.S.H. Initiative closes this critical information gap by pairing a secure, interoperable, opt-in, multi-language, registry with local clinical partnerships (Fire, EMS & Public Safety). As of the start of 2024, over 2.75 million children and young people with special health needs are under coverage of the R.U.S.H. Initiative, thanks to generous support from organizations like Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Read MorePromising Practice
Healthy Beginnings at Home
Healthy Beginnings at Home (HBAH) provides rental assistance, housing navigation, and case management for pregnant women experiencing housing instability to increase positive health outcomes for moms and babies.
Read MoreCutting-Edge Practice
Grassroots Maternal and Child Health Initiative: Faith-based MCH Promotion
The Faith-based Initiative of the Grassroots Maternal and Child Health Initiative focuses on building relations in community with faith-based organizations of all religions to build capacity within structure of ministerial and mission work to promotion positive maternal and infant health.
Read MorePromising Practice
Becoming a Mom® Prenatal Education Program, Implemented through the Kansas Perinatal Community Collaborative Model
Becoming a Mom® (BaM) / Comenzando bien® (Cb) is a prenatal education program created by the March of Dimes, delivered through a community collaborative model in Kansas to improve knowledge, promote healthy behaviors, and enhance birth outcomes, particularly for pregnant persons at highest risk of adverse outcomes.
Read MoreEmerging Practice
Mothers on the Rise
Mothers on the Rise is an individualized, coordinated system of care to provide instrumental, emotional, and resource connection support for mothers and their babies transitioning from the Indiana Women's Prison Nursery Unit into community.
Read MoreEmerging Practice
Promises of Parenting Program
The Promises of Parenting Program improves the maternal-infant relational health of incarcerated mothers and their co-residing children residing on the Officer Breann Leath Memorial Maternal-Child Health Unit at the Indiana Women’s Prison by providing evidence-based parenting education and support.
Read MoreCutting-Edge Practice
Preg-Out Program
Preg-Out seeks to address the recent spike in congenital syphilis by utilizing an opt-out system of rapid-response syphilis screening at any point of pregnancy care, particularly in emergency departments which often have a higher proportion of underserved populations.
Read MoreCutting-Edge Practice
Bringing Adolescent Well- Visits to the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation
The North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services in a partnership with the University of North Dakota Family Medicine Center are bringing Adolescent Well-Visits to the middle and high schools on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.
Read MoreBest Practice
PA Safe Sleep Program
The PA Safe Sleep Program trains and supports nurse Subject Matter Experts to implement an evidence-based multi-media program to educate nurses, support staff, and patients/families on the American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines for infant safe sleep at birthing and children's hospitals across the state of Pennsylvania.
Read MoreCutting-Edge Practice
TRACK Trails
Innovative Approaches of Henderson County NC collaborates with families of Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs (CYSHCN) and other community stakeholders to evaluate local TRACK Trails for accessibility. This starting point will help improve the trails, increase outdoor activity and recreation, and enhance the physical and mental wellbeing of CYSHCN.
Read MoreCutting-Edge Practice
Near Peer Hiring Toolkit
The near peer hiring toolkit provides a comprehensive guide to hiring young adults close in age to youth served by your agency, improving relationships, strategies, and overall impact of youth-facing programs.
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.