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HEALTH EQUITY REPORT

Maternal health disparities

Between 2017 and 2021, 166 women in Tennessee died from pregnancy-related causes. Most of these deaths were preventable — and a majority of them correlate with health disparities affecting minority communities.
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WHAT WE KNOW

Pregnant people of color are less likely to receive the right prenatal care

Everyone deserves to pursue their health goals, but some communities have historically been left behind. We’re committed to health equity, and it starts with a better understanding of the challenges our neighbors face.

Key facts about pregnancy-related deaths in Tennessee1

Black patients were
2.3x
more likely to die than White patients
Mental health contributed to
27%
of all pregnancy-related deaths
Substance abuse contributed to
39%
of all pregnancy-related deaths
Discrimination contributed to more than
1 in 5
pregnancy-associated deaths.

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By the numbers: prenatal and post-partum care for

Understanding the data will pave the way for us to make progress. We’ll work with health care providers to deliver better health for everyone, regardless of their background.

This data shows how likely members are to receive certain screenings or treatments, broken down by race.

We split the data by type of health plan because we know that, generally speaking, Medicaid members tend to face more social risk factors and health disparities than people with commercial health plans.

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Social factors drive health outcomes

We know that food, housing and literacy are just a few of the social factors that influence a person's health journey. That's why we developed a Social Risk Index to understand and support our members' needs.

FIND OUT MORE
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Addressing social drivers of maternal health

We’re working with health care providers and community partners to launch immunization campaigns, increase lactation consultants across the state, and initiate other strategies to address maternal health disparities – helping our members get the prenatal and post-partum care they need.

ADVANCING HEALTH EQUITY
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Data Sources

The calculated measure result rates are considered adjusted, unaudited HEDIS rates. They are only used for population health purposes and internal, quality improvement purposes. All stratified rates are based on data from BCBST administrative systems only. No attempt was made to manually abstract data from patients’ medical records.

HEDIS® – The Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS®) is a registered trademark of NCQA.