Supporting Moms and Babies

Special Beginnings^®

We’re working to improve maternal and infant health outcomes by increasing access to care, reducing care gaps and educating and engaging communities. 

With our expanded Special Beginnings maternal and infant health initiative, we're collaborating with community organizations and other partners to support women from preconception to postpartum. The initiative prioritizes:

• Increasing access to care, before and after childbirth.
• Promoting quality during childbirth.
• Investing in organizations addressing social drivers that play a role.
• Supporting efforts to expand the maternal health workforce.

In 2023 we expanded our longstanding efforts to improve maternal and infant health, recognizing that the rates of deaths and other adverse outcomes remain unacceptably high. 

Nearly 2,500 healthy babies were born to moms who engaged with the program in 2024. The preterm birth rate among this group was well below state and national averages.

More than 40,000 women were screened for sexually transmitted infections, which, if untreated, can affect fertility and possibly harm the unborn child. 

"We are so proud of the impact we've seen over the last year and look forward to continuing the work of improving health outcomes for Texas moms and babies," said BCBSTX Vice President and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Mark Chassay. "We remain committed to reducing preventable pregnancy-related deaths - and helping make sure moms have the support they need at every point of their journey."

In 2024 we invested in 11 organizations to expand support for moms and babies.   

In December we joined the March of Dimes in Houston to celebrate the state's first-ever Mom & Baby Mobile Health Center, funded with the help of a $1.2 million grant from BCBSTX. With clinical services provided by Memorial Hermann Health System, the mobile health center is expanding care access for women and children in chronically underserved communities.

Special Beginnings is also providing funding for up to 15 new CenteringPregnancy sites across Texas, an evidence-based, group prenatal care service delivery model shown to improve birth outcomes.

With the nonprofit Vitamin Angels, we helped distribute no-cost prenatal vitamin bottles to community partners to share with the women they serve.  

Other efforts are providing professional education for clinicians, helping providers adopt tech-enabled maternal health platforms, and expanding the maternal health workforce. 

In Austin, we’re collaborating with Huston-Tillotson University to train doulas, midwives, lactation consultants and support maternal health education.