Of course you know 2020 has been designated as the International Year of the Midwife and the Nurse by the World Health Organization (WHO), but did you know 2020 is the first year of the Decade of the Midwife? ICM is working on an action plan for the decade, and your input is needed. More on that in a minute.
By now, most if not all of us, have heard of coronavirus. Regardless of which media outlet, news of the coronavirus outbreak has spread faster than the virus itself. Named COVID-19 by the World Health Organization in late January 2020, the disease is being considered an “emergency of international concern”. As it spreads across borders, warnings from federal and state agencies are showing up in my inbox with advice to plan for the “eventuality of community spread”.
Earlier this year, Midwives Alliance was contacted by the office of Rep Gwen Moore (WI-4) to help develop a bill to define doulas and midwives in the United States Social Security Act (SSA), which will improve access to Medicaid reimbursement for services. With input from the North American Registry of Midwives (NARM), the credentialing agency for the Certified Professional midwife (CPM), we drafted simple language defining the types of midwives not currently included in the SSA.
