The Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services (CMCS) data and measurement efforts help states and CMCS to better understand the quality of health care received by Medicaid and CHIP beneficiaries.
The Child Core Set and the Adult Core Set include several measures focused on maternal and perinatal health. These have been identified as the 2025 Core Set of Maternal and Perinatal Health Measures for Medicaid and CHIP (Maternity Core Set). CMS will publish the resources for reporting the 2025 Core Set of Maternal and Perinatal Health Measures for Medicaid and CHIP in early 2025.
The 2024 Technical Specifications and Resource Manual for the Child Core Set and the Adult Core Set assist states in reporting the 2024 Maternity Core Set measures.
CMS annually releases information on state progress in reporting the Maternity Core Set measures and assesses state-specific performance for measures that are reported by at least 25 states and that met CMS standards for data quality. Information about performance on frequently-reported health care quality measures in the Maternity Core Set is provided below.
- 2021 Maternity Core Set Chart Pack, FFY 2020 (November 2021)
- 2020 Maternity Core Set Chart Pack, FFY 2019 (December 2020)
Contraception Care Measures
CMCS in collaboration with the Office of Population Affairs and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), support states in the use of data to assess progress on the second Maternal and Infant Health Initiative (MIHI) goal, to increase access to effective contraception in Medicaid and CHIP. The contraceptive care measures will help CMCS and states track access to the range of contraception methods and to drive changes in care practices and delivery.
On September 10, 2015, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced recipients of a grant award under the MIHI. The grant opportunity is designed to support state efforts to collect and report data to CMCS on a new developmental quality measure to assess progress on the second initiative goal. The developmental measure, Use of Contraceptive Methods by Women, is helpful in efforts to improve pregnancy planning and birth spacing. The grant will support Medicaid programs in 13 states and one U.S. Territory with up to $400,000 total for the four years of the grant program. For more information about the awards and recipients please see the MIHI award announcement.
Measuring Contraception Use in Medicaid and CHIP, November 5, 2014
Data Linkage
A critical mechanism for monitoring key maternal and infant health indicators in Medicaid and CHIP is to link Medicaid eligibility and claims data with vital statistics data (i.e., infant birth, infant death, and fetal death certificates). Once linked, these data sources provide a wealth of information for surveillance, programmatic monitoring and evaluation, and quality improvement purposes. The issue brief provides strategies for accessing vital statistics and guidance on resources available to increase states' capacity for linking vital records and Medicaid and CHIP data, which will help states report two measures in the Core Set of children's health care quality measures: low birth weight rate and Cesarean section rate. (see Vital Statistics Issue Brief).
Data Linkage Training Material
CMCS partnered with the CDC to develop a training curriculum for state partners on data linkage and use of state Vital Records, Medicaid claims and Title V data to facilitate collection of relevant Medicaid quality measures. Presentations from the in-person session: