When it comes to carrying a child in the time of pandemic, what are the options for care that keep the parent and child as safe as possible?

At this year’s NCQA Health Innovation Summit, we heard some answers from Dr. Nancy Gin and Dr. Brenda Jackson, both of Kaiser Permanente. Together, the offered a presentation titled: Reducing perinatal risk, improving access, and reducing disparities through virtual perinatal care.

To minimize risk during the pandemic, Kaiser Permanente used its telehealth capabilities to pivot many prenatal in-person interactions to virtual encounters. It created a perinatal remote monitoring pathway: a blended perinatal care model that allows patients to have some prenatal appointments conducted by video and monitors vitals for pregnant people and their babies.

Dr. Nancy Gin is Executive Vice President of Quality and Chief Quality Officer for the Permanente Foundation, which oversees clinical quality for more than 23,000 physicians nationwide in 8 Kaiser Permanente regions caring for over 12.5 million members. She also serves as the medical director of quality and clinical analysis for the Southern California Permanente Medical Group (SCPMG), leading quality and patient safety for 4.7 million Kaiser Permanente members in Southern California.

Brenda Jackson DNP – a Doctor of Nursing Practice – serves as Senior Director of Clinical Care Improvement for Clinical Quality in The Permanente Federation. Her work has emphasized inter-regional, multidisciplinary collaboration to implement strategic advancement in patient quality, safety, and care experience.