Improving Community Birth Transfers in California

Dr. Douglas Fenton is the chair of the department of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology  at Scripps Memorial Hospital in Encinitas, California.  He is the physician founder and medical director of the Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas/Connect the Docs Obstetrics Hospitalist Program and the medical director of maternal child health.  The hospitalist program provides in house coverage of the labor unit, the emergency room and consultations and is staffed by board certified obstetrician gynecologists and certified nurse midwives (CNM).

He remains a voluntary Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of California, San Diego where he completed his residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology in 1986. Dr. Fenton served as the North County director of the San Diego Medical Society and as a delegate to the California Medical Association (CMA)between 2004 and 2012. He remains in active clinical practice and serves on the Scripps Coastal Medical Center Board of Directors.

Dr. Fenton was vice chair of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists District IX, Section 8 from 2008-2011 and the chair 2011-2014. In 2018 he became a task force member the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) prevention program and participated in ACOG opioid use disorder(OUD) initiatives. Dr. Fenton currently serves on the District IX Advisory Council, Legislative Committee, Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Committee, the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Committee and is co-chair of a new ACOG District IX Public Health Committee. He continues to focus on advocacy for women and the wellness of those clinicians who choose to remain at their patients’ bedside

Bethany has worked as a maternity care provider both in the hospital and out of the hospital for over 13 years and worked as an RN for an additional 10 years prior. As the administrative Director of a CABC accredited birth center, Midtown Nurse Midwives, Bethany has worked directly with EMS and local hospitals to create systems for smoother transfers, interdisciplinary education and emergency drills.

Amy Romano has been involved in maternity care as a midwife, researcher, advocate, and innovation leader since 2004; she led the development and implementation of clinical, wellness, and quality management programs and developed quality improvement toolkits and clinical practice. Amy is Founder and CEO of Primary Maternity Care, a consulting services company that works across the healthcare system to strengthen community-based maternity services and integrate high-value, team-based models of care.

As Director of the Transform Maternity Care Program at the Purchaser Business Group on Health (PBGH), Blair works with prominent purchaser, payer, provider, and consumer stakeholder organizations to advance the quality of maternal health care.  She provides strategic leadership to promote high-value, equitable maternity strategies including reducing C-section rates, expanding the use of midwives, doulas, and birth centers, increasing screening and treatment of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, spreading value-based payment, and engaging consumers in care.

Blair brings quality improvement, population health, and value-based care experience along with a passion for transforming maternity care through data-driven innovation.  Prior to PBGH, Blair was the analytics and ambulatory quality manager of population health at UCSF, where she focused on key strategic initiatives such as the PRIME Medi-Cal 2020 Waiver, Medicare Shared Savings Program, commercial ACO contracts, and the Clinically Integrated Network.  Prior to UCSF, Blair worked on the Quality Improvement team at Blue Shield of California and at Kaiser Permanente’s in-house consulting group, TPMG Consulting Services.  She began her healthcare journey in frontline care delivery and clinical operations management at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, an experience which taught her the importance of patient and provider satisfaction. Blair holds an MPH in Health Policy and Management from Columbia University, a BA in Politics and Bioethics from the University of Virginia, and has received her Lean Healthcare Certification from the California Quality Collaborative and UCLA Executive Education in Health Policy and Management.  In her free time, she enjoys hiking, cooking, and traveling with her family.