FCC Chairwoman Rosenworcel Sends Letter to Congress on New Maternal Health Mapping Platform

The Data Mapping to Save Moms’ Lives Act directed the Federal Communications Commission to incorporate maternal health data into its Mapping Broadband Health in America platform. The agency took this task seriously and on June 20, 2023, first introduced this information on the platform, including public data about maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity, as well as facts about race and ethnicity, maternal age, rurality, areas with maternity care deserts, and areas with shortages of mental health care providers. Since the launch of this platform, the FCC has worked to engage a variety of stakeholders to evaluate what additional data we should incorporate into this effort. To this end, on October 20, 2023, the FCC released a Notice of Inquiry seeking input and ideas about how to expand, enhance, and refine the platform to help address maternal health outcomes and promote data driven decision making. On November 17, 2023, the FCC also co-hosted a roundtable with the Department of Health and Human Services on the “Connected Future of Maternity Care” to discuss the role of broadband as a social determinant of health, the implications of this framework to improve maternal health outcomes, and the importance of cross-agency, cross-sector coordination for leveraging broadband to help address the maternal health crisis facing our nation.... We have curated an expanded set of maternal health and broadband data variables that can offer additional perspective on maternal healthcare. To do this, we worked closely with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to identify “proxy” variables that address existing gaps in reportable maternal mortality and morbidity data due to privacy considerations.  As a result, the updated platform will allow users to select key maternal health risk factors, including gestational diabetes, gestational hypertension, and prepregnancy obesity.