SIGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED!

Neighborhood Birth Center joins Governor Healey on the Grand Staircase of the State House as she signs the Massachusetts Maternal Health Omnibus bill into law.
(Photo by Stefanie Belnavis / Birthlooms)

We DID it. We MADE it. It finally HAPPENED: Massachusetts – a state that had fallen so behind in birth justice – just passed a trailblazing Maternal Health Omnibus bill into law on August 26, 2024. 

This is a culture-changing moment, and we are thrilled, proud, and relieved to have played such a vital role. It’s been decades of a whole lot of effort by a whole lot of people – and there were many breath-stopping, gut-clenching moments along the way – but we’re finally HERE.

As we’ve chanted in the halls of the State House to demand action: MIDWIVES SAVE LIVES! At the heart of this bill is reproductive justice and increased access to midwives through: 

1. Licensure of Certified Professional Midwives, experts in out-of-hospital birth (homebirth and birth centers)

2. Fair reimbursement for Certified Nurse Midwives (who work in hospitals, clinics, birth centers and home birth) through MassHealth

3. Updated birth center regulations through the Department of Public Health that remove unnecessary barriers to opening and thriving

4. Additional provisions around perinatal mental health, doulas, postpartum home visiting and more. Read the full bill HERE.

Neighborhood Birth Center’s role in making history

From our inception, Neighborhood Birth Center not only envisioned a birth center in Boston, but a movement to change the whole healthcare landscape. And as we stared at the “impossible math” of opening and sustaining a birth center, we became certain that we needed to move policy levers to achieve our goals. And so NBC’s second-ever hire was a Policy Director – a rare role for birth centers nationally but instrumental to our mission. We were lucky to bring on Katherine Rushfirth, CNM, FACNM. Katherine was a full-scope nurse midwife who also had leadership and advocacy experience through the American College of Nurse Midwives (ACNM).

Katherine and NBC quickly deepened our partnership and coordination with our Coalition partners (listed below). We took major leading roles in:

• Testifying on reproductive health and midwifery bills at the State House

• Leading a hugely successful “Midwife Advocacy Day” at the State House in October 2023

• Educating policy makers, public health experts and health care finance organizations on the importance and value of midwifery care

• Coordinating action alerts and advocacy days for people across the state to get involved and contact their legislators

• Leading advocacy on state budget funding that secured $1.65 million dollars for freestanding birth centers

The outcome is a bill that will drastically improve reproductive justice and birthing options for generations to come. We are HONORED to have played such a large part in this legacy.

What does this legislation mean for Neighborhood Birth Center?

The reason we were so actively advocating for this bill is that we were crystal clear that we needed systems-level change to allow our birth center – and all community-led birth centers – to open quickly, implement best practices, and be sustainable. Under the changes in this law we can:

• Double our hiring pool by being able to bring Certified Nurse Midwives and Certified Professional Midwives on as Clinical Directors and birth center staff. More midwives = more birth centers

• Ensure our midwives are being reimbursed at the same rate as physicians for the same service – an absolute requisite to our financial sustainability. Equal pay for equal work!

• Get rid of costly, onerous regulations that do not improve patient safety. We can open with the appropriate staff, nimbly adapt clinical guidelines responsive to community needs, and more quickly open birth center facilities throughout the state prioritizing underserved communities. Time to scale up birth center care! 

What does this legislation mean for people seeking pregnancy and reproductive care?

• People will be able to access perinatal health care at home, in birth centers and in hospitals and have that care paid for by insurance

• People will know that the provider attending their birth is licensed, has access to essential medications to keep them and their baby safe, and has a seamless transfer plan if there is any complication

• This bill will help take Massachusetts from only ONE birth center to our full vision – a birth center in every community!

What does this legislation mean for midwives? 

• For Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs), it creates a path to licensure and regulation under a CPM-majority Board of Midwifery

• CPMs will be able to work in birth centers

• CPM care has to be covered by MassHealth – either in home or in birth centers

• For Certified Nurse Midwives (CNMs), they will now be reimbursed through MassHealth at 100% the physician rate for the same service – including GYN and family planning care

• CPMs and CNMs can, for the first time, serve as Clinical Directors of Birth Centers

Our coalition partners

This legislation is the result of over a decade of activism by midwives, birth workers, public health experts, reproductive justice advocates, and consumers. We are deeply grateful for our partners that strengthened and energized this whole movement. 

• Bay State Birth Coalition 

• Mass Affiliate of the American College of Nurse Midwives

• National Association of CPMs

• Reproductive Equity Now

• Center for Black Maternal Health and Reproductive Justice

• MA PPD Fund

• Our Bodies Ourselves

• Mystic Valley Action for Reproductive Justice

• MA ACLU

• MA NOW

• Planned Parenthood of Massachusetts

• MA Chapter of American College of OB-GYNs

Policy in Action!

Check out our photos at the State House working to changing the landscape of Maternal Healthcare in the Commonwealth!

Photographer: Stefanie Belnavis | @birthlooms