Maternal Health Roundtable

The Connected Future of Maternity Care Roundtable will gather public and private sector thought leaders from a variety of disciplines on the front lines of the maternal health crisis, including policymakers, telecommunications, public health, clinical, research, and data analytics experts, to explore the intersection between broadband connectivity and maternal health and why broadband is critically important in maternal health. Participants will also explore the role of broadband as a social determinant of health and the implications of this framework to improve maternal health outcomes and inform broadband and health policies. Improving maternal health equity through increased access to broadband-enabled health technologies, tools, and solutions is a critical priority and will be an overarching theme of the event. Finally, participants will discuss and help accelerate a cross-agency, cross-sector dialogue on more fully leveraging broadband to help address the maternal health crisis facing our nation.

The event is open to the public at FCC headquarters and on the Internet via live feed from the FCC’s web page at www.fcc.gov/live. FCC & HHS Announce Maternal Health and Broadband Roundtable Agenda

Related Materials

• Public Notice Announcing the Roundtable
• Notice of Inquiry on Broadband Connectivity & Maternal Health
• Mapping Broadband Health in America platform
• A Focus on Maternal Health

10:30 am – 10:35 am WELCOME FROM FCC

10:35 am – 10:50 am OPENING REMARKS

• Ying-Ying Goh, MD, Health Policy Advisor, Office of the Vice President of the United States
• Admiral Rachel L. Levine, MD, United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps; Assistant Secretary for Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• Michael D. Warren, MD, MPH, FAAP, Associate Administrator, Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• Andi Lipstein Fristedt, MPA, Deputy Director for Policy, Communications, and Legislative Affairs/Chief Strategy Officer, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

10:50 am – 11:10 am INTRODUCTION: Why Broadband Matters in Maternal Health
This introductory segment serves as a level-set for our cross-sector audience, including a brief overview of the current scope of the maternal health crisis, its evolution and underlying causes, highlights on how broadband is being leveraged in innovative ways to support and expand national efforts in this space, as well as a more nuanced understanding of the potentially transformative role of broadband in helping to address the maternal health crisis. 

• Veronica Gillispie-Bell, MD, MAS, FACOG, Ochsner Health; Medical Director, Louisiana Perinatal Quality Collaborative and Pregnancy Associated Mortality Review for the Louisiana Department of Health

11:15 am – 12:00 pm DEMO: Mapping Broadband Health in America Platform — Visualizing the Intersection of Maternal Health and Broadband

How can we better mine and visualize broadband and maternal health data to inform policies and improve outcomes? What are key questions at the intersection of broadband and maternal health? (View sample maps for a window into the intersection of broadband and maternal health). 

• Arielle Mancuso, PhD, Director of Research and Analytics, Connect2HealthFCC Task Force, FCC
• Karen Onyeije, JD, Chief of Staff, Connect2HealthFCC Task Force; Deputy General Counsel, FCC

12:00 pm – 1:00 pm LUNCH KEYNOTE

• Introduction: Chris Gibbons, MD, Senior Advisor, Connect2HealthFCC Task Force, FCC
• Trent Haywood, MD, JD, Founder, Knowality, LLC (former Chief Medical Officer, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association)

1:00 pm – 2:15 pm PANEL 1: THE CONNECTED FUTURE OF MATERNITY CARE — What if all women of reproductive age, their health care providers, caregivers, and families have an always-on connection to high-speed broadband?

This session will explore a future in which all women of reproductive age, their health care providers, other caregivers, and their families have a high-speed broadband connection at home, at work, and on the go that they can leverage for health. Panelists will be asked to reflect on what could be achieved in the connected future of maternity care as it relates to innovations in connected care models or systems of the future, equitable access to and quality of maternity care, health systems strengthening, health status, social determinants of health, and national health goals. Discussion will also include how the Mapping Broadband Health in America platform could help drive progress and inform efforts towards this vision.

Moderator: David K. Ahern, PhD, Senior Advisor, Connect2HealthFCC Task Force, FCC
Panelists:

• Jennifer L. Fang, MD, Neonatologist, Medical Director, Mayo Clinic Teleneonatology Program
• Kay Matthews, Founder and Executive Director, Shades of Blue Project
• Santosh Pandipati, MD, FACOG, Co-Founder and Chief Health Officer, e-Lōvu
• Annette Taylor, Director, Office of Digital Equity and Literacy, North Carolina Department of Information Technology
• Discussant: Shelly Choo, MD, MPH, Director, Bureau of Maternal and Child Health, Maryland Department of Health; Member, Maryland Maternal Health Innovation Program Task Force

2:15 pm – 2:30 pm COFFEE BREAK

2:30 pm – 3:45 pm PANEL 2: MORTALITY AND BEYOND — Creating Actionable Insights from Data on Broadband and Maternal Health Outcomes and Indicators: Challenges and Potential Solutions

Recognizing that mortality is just the tip of the iceberg, this session will build on the earlier dialogue about possible use cases and needs and help identify key variables to consider from both the broadband and maternal health domains that would further inform these use cases. Panelists will explore the critical questions and actionable insights that a data visualization platform (like the Mapping Broadband Health in America platform) should facilitate in order to drive progress. This panel will also discuss some of the limitations or challenges to intersecting maternal health and broadband data and inform a roadmap for the broadband maternal health mapping effort going forward.

Moderator: Arielle Mancuso, PhD, Director of Research and Analytics, Connect2HealthFCC Task Force

Panelists:

• Laurie Baksh, MPH, Manager, Maternal and Infant Health Program, Utah Department of Health
• Matt Eakins, MD, President, Lucina Analytics
• Sinsi Hernández-Cancio, JD, Vice President for Health Justice, National Partnership for Women and Families
• John Horrigan, PhD, Senior Fellow, Benton Institute for Broadband and Society

Discussant: Eugene Declercq, PhD, MBA, Professor of Community Health Sciences, Boston University School of Public Health

3:45 pm – 4:00 pm CLOSING AND WRAP UP

• Keynote: Karen S. Rheuban, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, Senior Associate Dean of Continuing Medical Education, UVA Health, and Director, University of Virginia Karen S. Rheuban Center for Telehealth; and Christian Chisholm, MD, Maternal & Fetal Medicine, UVA Health, and Professor, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, UVA School of Medicine
• Closing: Karen Onyeije, Chief of Staff, Connect2HealthFCC Task Force; Deputy General Counsel, FCC