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Q&A
Funding reductions in maternal health care programs
0:46:55
ยท
178 sec
Council Member Lynn Schulman questions DOHMH officials about recent funding reductions in maternal health care programs. Acting Commissioner Michelle Morse and CFO Aaron Anderson provide information on the current state of funding and impacts on specific programs.
- Several maternal health programs faced funding reductions totaling millions of dollars over fiscal years 2024-2026
- DOHMH's current maternal health budget is about $58 million in FY 2025
- Officials note that some funding from city council and federal grants is not yet loaded into the budget
- One vendor, The Power of Two, lost funding through a reduction in an inter-agency contract with ACS
- DOHMH emphasizes that other providers continue to offer home visiting services in the affected program
Lynn Schulman
0:46:55
DOH, now we're gonna go to maternal health.
0:46:57
One of your favorite topics doctor Morris.
0:47:00
Dear and ours.
0:47:01
DOHMH has several programs for maternal health care which had received funding reductions over the last financial plans in the fiscal twenty twenty five budget year alone.
0:47:10
The maternity infant reproduction program, newborn home visiting program, nurse family family partnership, and universal home visiting program lost a combination of $5,500,000 for fiscal twenty twenty four, '7 point '2 million dollars for fiscal twenty twenty five, and $6,600,000 for fiscal twenty twenty six.
0:47:28
How did DOHMH make the determination to reduce the funding for these programs?
Michelle Morse
0:47:33
Thank you for that question.
0:47:34
We are honored to continue to work with counsel to make sure that our crisis in black maternal mortality is addressed.
0:47:42
Our goal is still to reduce black maternal mortality by ten percent by 02/1930, so we do look forward to working with you all to advance that goal.
0:47:51
Our current maternal health, our broad maternal health budget which covers a number of different divisions is about $58,000,000 in FY twenty five.
0:48:01
And I'm not fully familiar with all of different cuts that you mentioned, but I do know that some of what you may be referencing and we would love to follow-up with you on the specific numbers is that some of the funding from city council is not yet loaded and some of our federal grants are also not yet loaded.
0:48:21
But we would be happy to follow-up to get into the specifics since I think our numbers are a little bit different.
Lynn Schulman
0:48:26
Okay, no that would be great.
0:48:29
Did any nonprofits affiliated with these programs lose any funding?
Michelle Morse
0:48:34
Thank you for that question.
0:48:35
I'll pass to my chief financial officer.
Aaron Anderson
0:48:41
There was one area that I know there was funding reduced to and that was a vendor named The Power of Two.
Lynn Schulman
0:48:49
Okay.
Aaron Anderson
0:48:50
That was through an intercity relationship with Administration for Children's Services.
Lynn Schulman
0:48:55
Can you provide more details of that?
Doctor Dre
0:49:02
Sure.
Aaron Anderson
0:49:10
Yes.
0:49:10
So this was funding that had previously been provided to ACS via an MOU to support a portion of their contract with Power of Two.
0:49:19
That activity was eliminated last year as a result of the cost savings exercise that we undertook.
0:49:26
I would say that the health department still supports the new family home visiting program.
0:49:29
The Power of Two contract did not represent the only vendor and only service provider for that program.
0:49:35
The program still offers a range of evidence based home visiting services via trained healthcare workers.
0:49:41
And the program is open to first time families in tree neighborhoods who live in
Lynn Schulman
0:49:44
So there's another provider that's providing those services?
Aaron Anderson
0:49:48
The services continue.
0:49:50
They were just one provider of
Lynn Schulman
0:49:52
Okay.
Aaron Anderson
0:49:52
Alright.
0:49:52
Of Universe.
0:49:53
Yep.