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Midwifery Working Group

Pursuant to Public Act 23-147, Sec. 15, the Commissioner of Public Health established the Midwifery working group within the Department of Public Health. The group includes several midwives with a variety of training backgrounds, alongside representatives of associated maternity care professions. The group began meeting in October 2023 to discuss hurdles and improvements in birthing care and safety, common needs among the various types of midwives, and ways to coordinate care between midwives and other healthcare professionals.

Group Resources

Current Membership

Guest Speaker Bios from 2024 Meetings

Meeting Schedule

The Midwifery working group currently meets on the fourth Friday of the month, from 9:00am-10:00am. All meetings are noticed on the Secretary of State's Public Meeting Calendar in accordance with the Connecticut Freedom of Information Act. Meetings are held solely via electronic equipment using the linked Zoom.

Next meeting: Friday, May 23, 2025

2025 Meetings 

Midwifery Resources

The inclusion of the following links and resources on this sit does not constitute DPH endorsement or recommendation.

Connecticut Resources

• 2023 Midwifery Scope of Practice Report
• Connecticut Hospital Association (CHA) Statewide Maternal Health Strategy

General Education

• Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health (AIM) Patient Safety Bundles
• Home Birth Summit Transfer Guidelines
• Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Transforming Maternal Health Model
• Niles et al. "Examining respect, autonomy, and mistreatment in childbirth in the US: do provider type and place of birth matter?" May 2023
• Access and integration of midwifery care
  • Vedam et al. "Mapping integration of midwives across the United States: Impact of access, equity, and outcomes" February 2018
  • Birth Place Lab tool: How does your state rank?
    
• Zephyrin et al. "Community-Based Models to Improve Maternal Health Outcomes and Promote Health Equity" The Commonwealth Fund, March 2021
• Sandall et al. "Midwife-led Continuity Models Versus Other Models of Care for Childbearing Women" April 2016
• Ranchoff and Declercq, "The Scope of Midwifery Practice Regulations and the Availability of the Certified Nurse-Midwifery and Certified Midwifery Workforce, 2012-2016" July 2019
• Levine et al. "Are perinatal quality collaboratives collaborating enough? How including all birth settings can drive needed improvement in the United States maternity care system"October 2021
• Gregory et al. "Changes in Home Births by Race and Hispanic Origin and State of Residence of Mother: United States, 2018-2019 and 2019-2020" December 2021
• Blix et al. "Transfer to hospital in planned home births: a systematic review" May 2014

Information from Other Jurisdictions

• Hawai'i case challenging a midwifery restriction law
  • Overview article
  • Full complaint
• Smooth Transitions, Washington state quality improvement for out-of-hospital birth transfers
• Massachusetts 2024 maternal health law, which included mandatory licensure for CPMs for the first time.
  •  View bill text here

Past Meetings

2023-2024 Meetings