Sanford Health has been invited to highlight how the health system is implementing digital strategies throughout its rural footprint to improve maternal health equity during a panel at the American Hospital Association Leadership Summit on Monday in San Diego.
Johnna Nynas, M.D., an OB/GYN at Sanford Bemidji, will be one of three panelists discussing how hospitals are integrating digital solutions as part of their strategy to extend care beyond their walls to reduce barriers to a healthy pregnancy.
The 2024 AHA Leadership Summit brings together senior health care executives, clinicians and experts in the field presenting innovative approaches for delivering better care and greater value, ensuring financial stability, addressing workforce challenges and improving the health care consumer experience through operational excellence, creative partnerships and redefined delivery models.
Making prenatal care more accessible
Dr. Nynas will be joined on the panel by Kristen Azar, Ph.D., executive director for the Institute for Advancing Health Equity at Sutter Health, and Veronica Gillispie-Bell, M.D., senior site lead and section head of Women’s Service at Ochsner Medical Center – Kenner. Julie Resnick, director of strategic initiatives at the American Hospital Association, will moderate the panel.
Photo by Sanford Health
“The quality and level of care patients receive should not be determined by their ZIP code,” said Dr. Nynas. “We know that when patients engage in the recommended prenatal and postpartum care, we see better maternal and neonatal health outcomes. That’s why we are bringing care to women rather than expecting women to come to us.”
Dr. Nynas was recently named one of CNN’s Champions for Change honorees, a recognition that highlights individuals making a difference in their communities and across the world. She was also featured in a CNN story detailing how Sanford Health provides vital access to medical care through telehealth for pregnant women living in rural towns throughout northern Minnesota. Sanford Health provides patients with a low-tech toolkit that includes a doppler to measure fetal heart rate and a blood pressure cuff to use for virtual prenatal appointments.
Impact on rural maternity health care
Dr. Nynas devoted her time to help Sanford Health attain a $3.67 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Rural Maternity and Obstetric Management Strategies (RMOMS) program, which was used to create the Families First: Rural Maternity Health Collaborative.
The regional collaborative is focused on improving access to prenatal, obstetric and postpartum care and reducing inequitable outcomes for women in rural, underserved and tribal communities.
As part of the RMOMS program, Sanford Health assembled a team to help set up doctor appointments, provide patient transportation and facilitate nurse home visits to assess what patients may need outside of medical care.
Learn more
- CNN honors Dr. Johnna Nynas as Champion for Change
- Sen. Tina Smith convenes maternal health roundtable at Sanford
- Pregnant couples in northern MN benefit from telehealth
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Posted In Bemidji, Here for all. Here for good., Inclusion at Sanford, Leadership in Health Care, News, Pregnancy, Virtual Care, Women's
