Southeastern PA Regional Maternal Health Coalition (SEPA RHMC)

Our Mission

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Regional Maternal Health Coalition (SEPA RMHC) focuses on reducing maternal mortality and morbidity in the five collar counties (Berks, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery). Pennsylvania Department of Health is funding regional coalitions from 2024 through 2027.

This work is centered around recommendations from the 2024 and 2025 Pennsylvania Maternal Mortality Review Committee (MMRC) Reports. The coalition will review the MMRC reports and other relevant data to create a collective action plan to implement recommendations most appropriate for each of the collar counties.

The backbone team for this work includes Maternity Care Coalition (MCC), Strategy Arts, and Public Health Management Corporation (PHMC). County Champions and Lived Experience Experts have been identified across each of the five counties to ’make up’ the Steering Committee. A diverse group of stakeholders has been recruited to serve on the community coalition. The backbone team, steering committee, and community coalition have worked together to review and gather data, select priorities, and develop action teams to accomplish the coalition’s funded goals.

MMRC Report Breakdown

• 2024, Leading causes of death were mental health and substance use for pregnancy-related and associated
• 2024, roughly 41% of cases had SUD as contributing factor
• 2024, Among pregnancy-related deaths deemed ‘preventable’ 97% had at least ‘some chance’ that the outcome could have been altered
• 2024, Issues in completeness of data – only ~10.3% of cases had ‘complete’ records for review, 43% had only ‘somewhat complete’ records
• 2024, certain age ranges had higher mortality ratios than others
• 2025, 26% of deaths had SUD as contributing factor
• 2025, mental health conditions leading cause (47%) for pregnancy-associated deaths
• 2025, 35% of pregnancy-related deaths were older than 35
• 2025, ~48% of pregnancy-related deaths occurred between 43 days and one year postpartum, 31% died while pregnant
• 2025, ~25% of pregnancy-associated deaths occurred while pregnant
• 2025, IPV was identified in 20 cases of all pregnancy-associated deaths
• 2025, intersection between IPV, mental/behavioral health, and SUD

Collective Goals

• Reduce preventable severe maternal morbidity and mortality in the region
• Eliminate racial, ethnic, and demographic disparities in perinatal health outcomes
• Improve access to and efficacy of high-quality perinatal care
• Strengthen support for community-based perinatal health providers
• Improve data sharing and coordinated care across all systems

Existing Resources