The VA announced new opportunities for veterans to have access to maternity coordinators until their child's first birthday.
Maternity care coordinators for veterans are now available for the duration of their pregnancies, rather than only the first eight weeks after giving birth as was previously the case. These coordinators help Veterans get the most out of their VA and non-VA health care benefits by, for example, facilitating access to postpartum care and newborn screenings. This means that all pregnant women, regardless of where they choose to give birth, will have access to the care they need from the VA.
Expanding access to care like this is a critical part of the VA's efforts to improve maternal outcomes for Veterans as outlined in the White House Blueprint for Addressing the Maternal Health Crisis. In addition to these maternity care coordinators, the VA also provides its Veterans with a full complement of maternity care services throughout their pregnancies, labors, and postpartum recoveries, including primary care, exams, testing, ultrasounds, newborn care, breastfeeding help, and more.
About 600,000 women Veterans, half of whom are of childbearing age, are currently receiving health care through VA. Women Veterans are the fastest-growing demographic of VA service users. Since 2014, the number of female Veterans becoming pregnant while receiving VA care has increased by more than 80 percent, from 6,950 to 12,524 pregnancies.
During pregnancy and after the baby is born, VA maternity care coordinators offer social, physical, and mental health screenings, as well as answer questions about billing, provide childbirth education alternatives, and encourage breastfeeding.
Since having a solid support system during and after pregnancy is so important, the Department of Veterans Affairs provides critical wraparound services in addition to extended maternity care. Options for tackling food insecurity, housing assistance, and access to mental health services are also included in addition to the standard medical care.
