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Rutgers awarded $4.1M contract to evaluate perinatal psychiatry programs

NJBIZ - 3/13/2020

Rutgers University School of Public Health assistant professor Thomas Mackie was awarded a $4.1 million contract on March 5 from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to study the effectiveness of perinatal psychiatry access programs available to pregnant and postpartum women across the United States.
According to Rutgers, perinatal depression affects 1 in 7 women during pregnancy or within a year of birth. In the United States, less than 20 percent of pregnant and postpartum women who screen positive for depression engage in initial psychiatric treatment and follow-up.
“Perinatal depression negatively impacts the birth, mother and infant bonding, and children’s behavior and development,” said Mackie who is also a core faculty member at the Rutgers Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research. “In response to this public health crisis, state-wide programs are being created to support health care providers like obstetricians and pediatricians with acquiring the training and resources necessary to treat the signs and symptoms of depression in pregnant women and those who have recently given birth."
These Perinatal Psychiatry Access Programs are being developed or used to increase access and improve quality in at least 15 states.
Led by Mackie and Nancy Byatt, associate professor at University of Massachusetts Medical School, the PCORI contract will examine three innovative Perinatal Psychiatry Access Programs in Washington, New Jersey and Massachusetts to estimate which programs are most likely to improve access and quality of care for perinatal depression. The team will specifically examine whether Perinatal Psychiatry Access Programs that implement training, consultation and/or care coordination improve access and quality of perinatal care the most.
 

CREDIT: David Hutter