Closing the Maternal Mortality Gap: How Ochsner Health Uses Digital Monitoring to Save Lives

Joseph R. Biggio Jr., MD, MS, system chair and service line leader of women’s services for Ochsner Health

The United States has one of the highest maternal mortality rates among developed nations. In 2022, the national maternal mortality rate stood at 22.3 deaths per 100,000 live births, according to the CDC.

But these numbers conceal a starker fact: Black mothers in the U.S. die at disproportionately higher rates. Nationally, Black women are three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than White women, even after controlling for income, education, and comorbidities.

In Louisiana, the statistics are even worse. Between 2018 and 2022, Louisiana recorded 37.3 maternal deaths per 100,000 births, nearly 1.7 times the U.S. average, according to the March of Dimes. Non-Hispanic Black women in the state accounted for 62 percent of all pregnancy-associated deaths in the state, despite constituting only 37 percent of births, according to the Louisiana Department of Health.

Ochsner Health, a 46-hospital system based in New Orleans, with facilities across Louisiana and Mississippi, designed a program to change how maternal care is delivered. In 2016, the health system launched Connected MOM (Maternity Online Monitoring).

Read on to learn how this program helps flag problems before they become emergencies: How Ochsner’s Connected MOM Program Closes Gaps in Maternal Health

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