Several educational partners have already been chosen, including national nurses’ associations that represent nurses at the bedside and advanced practice registered nurses. The project funding will allow these organizations to develop and disseminate a variety of helpful resources, like webinars, podcasts, web campaigns and other assets designed specifically to help nurses and midwives counsel and protect pregnant women and their families. 

These efforts also align with the White House Women’s Health Research Initiative to expand training in women’s health research and public health surveillance to nurses and advanced practice nurses. The goal of that program is to improve the health of women and children exposed to or affected by infectious diseases, mental health and substance use disorders. 

Hear Her®, a communications campaign launched in 2020, supports CDC’s efforts to prevent pregnancy-related deaths by raising awareness of urgent maternal warning signs. The campaign amplifies the stories of women who have experienced pregnancy and postpartum complications and encourages partners, friends, family and healthcare providers to really listen when those concerns are raised and offer help.

This Hear Her® campaign recognized the importance of creating culturally appropriate resources with and for American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) people, who are twice as likely to die of pregnancy-related causes than White women. AIAN community members often experience discrimination or racism and face barriers to care including higher rates of poverty and long distance to quality health care services. The communications assets for these audiences were developed to reflect the strength and diversity of AIAN communities and are based on their specific guidance and feedback. 

CDC worked with the National Indian Health Board to host discussion sessions open to all AIAN individuals and consulted other American Indian colleagues and advisors in the production of these assets.

Resources include:

• Video testimonials from American Indian women who experienced pregnancy-related complications. One of the participants noted, “This video speaks volumes. I am so satisfied and grateful that my story will be shared.”
• Conversation guides, palm cards and posters that help AIAN pregnant and postpartum people and their circles of support recognize urgent maternal warning signs and encourage them to seek the care they need.
• Materials to support healthcare professionals who serve AIAN communities in their delivery of respectful, culturally appropriate care.

It is quite touching, and indeed I am a little tearful, that I have been able to witness a nationwide campaign targeting American Indian and Alaska Native women through the Hear Her campaign. As you know, very little data exists on our population for a number of reasons, but essentially, the overwhelming message is that our voices and experiences are not important. The Hear Her campaign was an action that contradicts those messages. Our voices are important. -- Janelle Palacious, PhD, CNM (Salish & Kootenai), American Indian nurse midwife

The campaign team is utilizing digital and social media, including AIAN serving channels, to further the reach of these new resources. 

Learn more about the campaign and available resources at CDC.gov/HearHer/AIAN. 

Hear Her® is a registered trademark of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
 

Background

Medical examiner and coroner offices conduct medicolegal death investigations (MDIs) to determine the cause and manner of sudden unexpected deaths. MDI offices play a crucial role in monitoring emergent and routine public health issues and collecting data that contributes to saving lives.

Increasing deaths from drug overdoses, suicides, homicides and more have resulted in MDI offices with record caseloads. Likewise, outdated methods of sharing MDI data, like faxing and paper-based systems, are inefficient and resource-intensive. Manual data entry at each agency may lead to errors and delay public health’s ability to use the data for response.

Through collaboration with data sharing partners, software vendors and others, MDI offices are implementing standards-based data exchange. Through the automation of workflows and integration of data sources, electronic information exchange is improving the timeliness and completeness of death investigation. Modernizing MDI data practices improves public health’s ability to monitor evolving health trends and create data-driven interventions to save lives without increasing burden on these offices.

MDI Connect can help.

MDI Connect is a forum for medical examiners’ and coroners’ offices, their data sharing partners and software vendors to work with their peers and subject matter experts to design, build and test standards-based data exchange practices. Using the data standard FHIR^®—Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources, pronounced “fire”—allows for both scalability and information sharing across partners from public health, public safety, toxicology and health systems using a defined set of tools. MDI Connect is dedicated to advancing solutions that simplify data sharing between MDI offices and their partners. Scalable solutions will reduce inefficiencies, decrease the amount of staff time needed in an MDI office to exchange data and minimize duplicative reporting processes. These solutions could also improve how toxicology results are reported and providing data to state vital records offices and other public health surveillance systems.

LEARN MORE

MDI Connect provides support.

A LEARNING COLLABORATIVE

Engage in peer-to-peer networking and learning activities. MDI offices and others share insights on data-exchange practices in virtual and in-person forums.

AN INCUBATOR FOR INNOVATIVE PROJECTS

Form data sharing partnerships to implement standards-based data exchange and design innovative solutions in a real-world setting.

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE HUB

Discuss implementation challenges and receive support with standards-based data exchange and information technology adoption through office hours, virtual testing events and more.

Explore real-world examples of MDI data exchange projects currently being implemented.

Explore the playlist highlighting MDI data exchange projects.

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MDI Connect collaborates.

Public health, public safety, health care and other agencies use MDI data daily to improve and coordinate efforts to save lives. Modernizing information technology can help build a mortality data ecosystem that provides more timely health surveillance without increasing the burden on MDI offices.

MDI Connect is also coordinating with the broader MDI community to build awareness of this data modernization initiative. Professional organizations such as the National Association of Medical Examiners (NAME) and the International Association of Coroners and Medical Examiners (IACME) actively support and promote MDI Connect to address the pressing need for streamlined data-sharing across multiple agencies.

MDI Connect innovates.

MDI offices and Case Management System (CMS) vendors are developing and testing data sharing solutions between various systems and stakeholders including:

• Electronic Death Registration System (EDRS)
• Toxicology Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS)
• National/State Violent Death Reporting System (N/SVDRS)
• State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System (SUDORS)
• Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program (ODMAP)
• MDI CMS and other surveillance systems, data systems or public facing dashboards
• Organ Procurement Organization (OPO)

VIEW EXAMPLES OF THESE SYSTEMS IN ACTION

To learn more about MDI Connect and the MDI Data Modernization Initiative (DMI), view the FAQ.

MDI Connect Participation and Funding Questions

This project is supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award totaling $2,726,393.00 with 57 percentage funded by CDC/HHS through Medical Examiner and Coroner Data Modernization Implementer's Group and $2,097,363.00 and 43 percentage funded by non-government source(s). The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement by, CDC/HHS or the U.S. Government.