Maternal and Infant Health Resources
Program Overview
The Maternal and Infant Health Center of Excellence (MIHCOE) consists of the University of Rochester and the Center for Human Services Research at the University at Albany (CHSR). In conjunction with our NYSDOH partners, we coordinate and facilitate the development, dissemination and implementation of evidence-based and promising practices through training, technical assistance, research-to-practice information and resources, and evaluation – thereby integrating support for the Maternal and Infant Community Health Collaborative (MICHC) and Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program initiatives within a broader focus on maternal and infant health interventions and outcomes. The COE supports further integration of home visiting and other strategies within maternal, infant, and child health programs and systems, and support the coordination of evaluation activities, data management, and data reporting.
The University of Rochester provides training, technical assistance and evaluation to the NSYDOH and MIHI grantees on the development, dissemination, and implementation of evidence-based strategies to improve maternal and infant health outcomes, and support evaluation activities through data collection and analysis.
The Center for Human Services Research at the University at Albany is leading the development, maintenance and management of a Data Management Information System. CHSR is designing, implementing and managing a web-based information system for collecting and analyzing client-level and program-level data from MICHC grantees. CHSR is also providing data support to fulfill reporting requirements of MIECHV grantees.
Maternal and Infant Health Initiative (MIHI)
In response to the need to further develop the evidence base for intervention strategies and to address maternal and infant health outcomes in NYS, the NYSDOH has developed the Maternal and Infant Health Initiative (MIHI). The MIHI consists of two components: the Maternal and Infant Community Health Collaboratives (MICHC) and the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program.
Maternal and Infant Community Health Collaboratives
The MICHC initiative integrated and replaced the NYSDOH’s current community-based maternal and infant health programs - including the Comprehensive Prenatal – Perinatal Services Networks, the Community Health Worker Program, and the Healthy Mom – Healthy Baby Prenatal and Postpartum Home Visiting initiative - to develop multi-dimensional community-wide systems of integrated and coordinated community health programs and services to improve maternal and infant health outcomes. All MICHC grantees are expected to address maternal and infant health behaviors, supports, and service systems across three key life course stages: preconception, prenatal/postpartum, and interconception. Each grantee designs strategies tailored to the needs of their community including at the organizational/ system level and at the individual/family level.
Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting
The MIECHV program supports expansion, enhancement and/or establishment of specific evidence-based home visiting programs that have been shown to positively impact maternal health, infant and child health, and child maltreatment outcomes. In NYS, the two evidence-based home visiting models currently available for grantees to select are Nurse Family Partnership (NFP) and Healthy Families New York (HFNY).