By the 2020 Mom Policy Team

This week Congress passed the “Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021” (aka the COVID relief package) a 5000+ page bill. Last year 2020 Mom pushed to secure funding for the Health and Human Services Administration (HHS) to produce a Federal Interagency Report Maternal Mental Health to Congress noting what each agency is doing to address maternal mental health, and what gaps might exist in coordination, resources, etc.

Because of COVID, this report was delayed to Congress. However, in this week’s COVID Relief package, Congress reminded the Health and Human Services Administration (HHS) that this report to Congress is still a priority (even though maternal mental health was touched on in the HHS plan to address maternal mortality, released earlier this month).

This is a significant step to laying the groundwork for maternal mental health.

“This is game-changing because just like mothers have fallen through the cracks in our healthcare system because MMH hasn’t fit cleanly into one provider’s scope, the issue of MMH has fallen through the cracks, as it hasn’t fit cleanly into one federal agency’s purview,” said Joy Burkhard.

Also of Note:

Three million in funding was also prioritized for a maternal mental health hotline, (currently, a service provided by Postpartum Support International, without government funding), and $5 million in continued funding (“level funding”) for the reauthorization of The Bringing Postpartum Depression Out of the Shadows Act which allows the Health and Human Services Agency to continue to provide telehealth grants to states. These two efforts were led by our friends at MMHLA.

This budget package is expected to be signed by the president this week.

In 2021, 2020 Mom will be working to ensure that interagency coordination on maternal mental health is a permanent fixture within federal agencies.