Gov. John Kasich announced new efforts Thursday to try to reduce Ohio’s infant mortality rate by targeting “hot spot” areas in the state where the problem is greatest.
Those communities, identified by the Ohio Department of Health, are: Butler County, Canton and Stark County, Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland and Cuyahoga County, Youngstown and Mahoning County, Dayton and Montgomery County, Summit County and Toledo and Lucas County.
Kasich announced two strategies to try to lower mortality rates.
- The Ohio Medicaid program will direct the managed health care organizations to connect pregnant women and babies who are Medicaid recipients in the hot spot communities with high-risk care management benefits.
- The Office of Health Transformation will work to identify and fund research based best-practice methods of group care for expecting mothers in both targeted urban and rural communities.
Ohio’s infant mortality rate is nearly 30 percent higher than the national average, at 7.9 per 1000 births in 2011, according to the Health Transformation Office. The rate reflects the number of babies who die within their first year of life per thousand live births.
The mortality rate in Marion County in 2011 was 7.73 per 1000 births.
That year there were 7.88 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in Ohio. The national rate was 6.07.
The highest rates in Ohio are in Appalachian counties and metropolitan areas.
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