Assembly Bill 3032, which was signed into law in 2019 and took effect in 2020, has two specific requirements for all California hospitals:
- Provide education and information for postpartum women and families about maternal mental health conditions, post-hospital treatment options, and community resources.
- Provide education and information for hospital employees regularly assigned to work in the perinatal unit, including, as appropriate, registered nurses and social workers, about maternal mental health conditions.
HQI is helping hospitals comply with this regulation through the Perinatal Mental Health (PMH) Learning Community, which provides enrolled hospitals with free educational and informational resources as well as regular opportunities for peer learning and exchange. The program is funded by the California Health Care Foundation and delivered in collaboration with Maternal Mental Health Now and CommonSpirit Health. More than 140 California birthing hospitals are already participating.
To check if your hospital has enrolled, go to the program website, then click on the “Participating Hospitals” tab. Additional hospitals can still join by clicking the “Enroll” tab. Enrollment takes only one minute, after which you will receive a welcome email and information about how to access these free resources, including a high-quality online staff education program.
While on the website, feel free to review the webinars, which can be found by clicking on the “Webinars” tab, then select past webinars, and select a recording to review. There is also a tab where peer resources have been posted for sharing.
The HQI team continues to be deeply moved, impressed, and empowered by the experiences shared by our participating hospitals, by their work to improve perinatal mental health support, and by the subject matter expertise of our partners and stakeholders. Programming will continue until Dec. 31, 2021.
For questions, please contact PMH Learning Community Program Manager Julia Slininger, at jslininger@hqinstitute.org.
