SDSU faculty founds South Dakota Perinatal Quality Collaborative

• South Dakota is final state to form perinatal quality collaborative

The South Dakota Perinatal Quality Collaborative was recently founded at South Dakota State University, making South Dakota the final state in the Unites States to have its own perinatal quality collaborative. 

The South Dakota Perinatal Quality Collaborative was founded in August 2024, housed within the Community Practice Innovation Center at SDSU. Stephanie Hanson, an assistant professor of population health, is the founder and executive director. 

A perinatal quality collaborative is a state network of multidisciplinary teams, all working to improve maternal and infant health outcomes, according to the National Network of Perinatal Quality Collaboratives. Each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia now have at least one perinatal quality collaborative. 

Why is this significant for South Dakota?

Previously, a single perinatal quality collaborative worked on maternal and infant health outcomes for both North and South Dakota and was led by individuals primarily based in North Dakota. With the founding of the South Dakota Perinatal Quality Collaborative, efforts can more easily focus on both states. 

“The people living here know what the unique needs of South Dakotans are and how best to approach those needs. With two perinatal quality collaboratives, each state can take tailored approaches to best meet their unique needs,” Hanson explained. 

Hanson added that the founding of the collaborative is important because it means that South Dakotans are now leading their perinatal health efforts. 

“For South Dakotans, the formation of the South Dakota Perinatal Quality Collaborative means the ability to really tailor the approach to best serve mothers, infants, children and families in South Dakota,” Hanson said. 

Keri Pappas, a research associate at SDSU who works closely with Hanson, explained that with the founding of the South Dakota Perinatal Quality Collaborative, positive changes will happen soon. 

“We can expect to see improvements in the safety of giving birth in South Dakota now that we have a perinatal quality collaborative that is completely focused on improving the maternal child landscape in South Dakota,” Pappas said. 

What will the South Dakota Perinatal Quality Collaborative do? 

With the founding of the South Dakota Perinatal Quality Collaborative, Hanson, Pappas and collaborative partners are already engaged in work to improve perinatal health in the state. Two active programs to improve perinatal health in South Dakota, BIRTH-SD-AIM and BIRTH-SD-UNITE, will be the first projects of the collaborative. 

“The first thing that South Dakota Perinatal Quality Collaborative intends to do is continue working on the implementation of the patient safety bundles under the BIRTH-SD-AIM grant that is currently funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration. We are currently planning our perinatal mental health work and are looking to form our steering committee around the design and implementation of that initiative,” Hanson said. 

Hanson also noted her team is in the early phases of BIRTH-SD-UNITE, which will work over the next year to document the culturally relevant and traditional birthing practices of the nine Native American tribes in South Dakota. 

“Additionally, we plan to expand our funding portfolio to include further project work with more clinics and hospitals, and hopefully increase access to perinatal mental health services in our state” Hanson added. 

Since its founding, the South Dakota Perinatal Quality Collaborative has established partnerships with the top maternal and child health providers in South Dakota. Major partners of the collaborative include Avera Health, Monument Health, Sanford Health, the South Dakota Association of Healthcare Organizations and the South Dakota Perinatal Association. 

“We want the South Dakota Perinatal Quality Collaborative to be a convener for maternal and child health work in South Dakota. We want the collaborative to become a place that people look to for resources, guidance and assistance for improving the care and lives of mothers, infants, children and families in our state. Having the major health systems, the South Dakota Association of Healthcare Organizations and the South Dakota Perinatal Association involved in that is absolutely essential in these efforts. Also essential are our relationships with independent hospitals who are on the frontlines in our state’s maternity deserts,” Hanson explained. 

With these key partnerships and the already-started work of the BIRTH-SD projects, the South Dakota Perinatal Quality Collaborative is uniquely set up to make a positive impact on maternal and child health in South Dakota, she added. 

“We have individuals from a wide range of stakeholders who are invested in supporting the perinatal quality collaborative and seeing it succeed, and I am here to help ensure that it does so. South Dakota was the last state in the country to establish its own perinatal quality collaborative, but now that it has been done, the entire state can come together to address issues surrounding maternal and child health in an effective and unified way,” Hanson said. 

Learn more about the South Dakota Perinatal Quality Collaborative.