Kentucky Perinatal Quality Collaborative (KyPQC)

The Kentucky Perinatal Quality Collaborative (KyPQC) is a statewide network working to improve the quality of care during pregnancy, delivery and throughout the first year of life.

The KyPQC was launched at a ceremony Oct. 22, 2019 attended by health care professionals and others dedicated to reducing rates of maternal mortality and neonatal abstinence syndrome and improving maternal and infant health outcomes throughout the commonwealth.

The KyPQC aims to make Kentucky a great place for every woman to have a baby and a great place for every baby to be born.

KyPQC Launch Program

KyPQC Launch Infographic

Guest Speakers

John R. Barton, MD is a maternal-fetal medicine specialist with Baptist Health Lexington. Dr. Barton graduated from the University of Kentucky College of Medicine in 1985 and has been in practice for 34 years. He serves as the chair for the Kentucky Maternal Mortality Review Committee. View his presenation Overview of Maternal Mortality in Kentucky and the Role of the Kentucky Maternal Mortality Review Committee (37 minutes)

Lisa Hollier, MD is the immediate past president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and a maternal-fetal medicine specialist. Dr. Hollier is a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and the medical director of Texas Children’s Centers for Children and Women. She serves as co-chair of the Texas Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Task Force. View Dr. Hollier's KyPQC launch presentation Successfully Implementing Change: PQC + AIM (45 minutes)

These videos also are available in TRAIN (Course ID 1088642) for those seeking contact hours for nursing continuing education units.

Charles Johnson, IV is a graduate of Florida A&M University. After the sudden death of his wife Kira from complications following a routine scheduled C-section, Johnson made it his life mission to launch the 4Kira4Moms Foundation, a nonprofit committed to reducing maternal mortality and raising awareness of the maternal death crisis in the United States.

Delivery Hospitals Presentations

Baptist Health Lagrange - Maternal Sepsis Initiative

Baptist Health Louisville - Implementing a Severe Maternal Hypertension Protocol

Norton HealthCare - Safe Reduction of Primary Cesarean Rates

Reducing Cesarean Section Infections

University of Louisville Hospital - Quality Improvement Initiative to Reduce Severe Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) in Very Low Birthweight Infants (VLBW)

Quality Improvement ‚ Golden Hour Initiative for Infants fewer than 28 Week Gestation Results in Improved Admission Temperatures

The Extremely Low Birth Weight Infant Follow-up Study Group: Supporting Follow-Through and Outcomes Assessment Birth Year Cohorts 2014-2016

Partnering with new mothers to develop a smart phone app to prevent maternal mortality after hospital discharge: A pilot study

Special Thanks

The Kentucky Department for Public Health thanks everyone who attended the launch of KyPQC for their dedication and collaboration in this important effort.

We also thank the Jessamine County Health Department for its assistance facilitating the launch.

It takes an engaged network of multi-disciplinary partners and stakeholders to make measurable improvements in statewide health care and health outcomes. We are enthusiastic about the positive changes KyPQC will promote for all Kentucky mothers and babies.

To see additional pictures and tweets from the successful Launch of the KyPQC, please visit twitter and search for #KyPQC.

KyPQC Central Team

Connie Gayle White, MD, MS, FACOG
Deputy Commissioner for Clinical Affairs

Sarah Eustice, MPH, MCHES
Program Manager, KyPQC

Monica Clouse, MPH
ASTHO Health Policy Specialist II, KyPQC

Next Steps

The state KyPQC team will name a steering committee to develop KyPQC vision, mission and goals and branding for the network. The steering committee will work closely with the obstetrics, neonatology and data and analytics work groups to evaluate initiative topics, design the implementation process and create evaluation and dissemination plans. The KyPQC team also will take the lead in Kentucky's application to become an Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health (AIM) state with an interest in obstetric care for women with opioid use disorder bundle.

A new KyPQC website will be developed to share the work of the steering committee, work groups and local initiative teams. A link to the site will be published here when it goes live.

Disclaimer: The KyPQC is supported by the Cooperative Agreement number 1 NU17CE924971-01-00, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Content on this page is solely the responsibility of the KyPQC and does not necessarily represent the official views of the CDC.