How state policies affect immigrant mothers' pregnancy and birth health
Official title: State factors and maternal health among immigrants
Funded at Univ of Maryland, College Park · NIH-11333058 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project compares pregnancy and birth complications among immigrant mothers with full public insurance to those with only Emergency Medicaid and looks at whether state policies that expand coverage improve care.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Univ of Maryland, College Park NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (College Park, United States) |
| Project start | May 6, 2025 |
| Project end | March 31, 2030 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $490,762 |
| NIH project number | 5R01HD115930-02 |
| Project ID | NIH-11333058 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
The ideal people for this work are immigrant women of childbearing age who were pregnant between 2019 and 2022 and whose care was billed to Emergency Medicaid or full-scope Medicaid, especially in states that recently expanded coverage like California.
✕Less likely to help
People without Medicaid-recorded care in the study period, non-immigrants, or those covered exclusively by private insurance or other non-Medicaid programs are unlikely to be included and thus won't directly benefit from this specific analysis.
What this research studies
Researchers will use national Medicaid billing and hospital records from 2019–2022 to compare outcomes for immigrant women who received Emergency Medicaid during pregnancy versus those who had full-scope Medicaid coverage. They will measure things like severe maternal illness and delivery complications and then analyze whether state policy changes that expanded coverage before and after pregnancy—with a focused look at California—were linked to better care and outcomes. The work relies on de-identified claims data rather than new clinical visits, so individuals are not being asked to undergo tests or treatments for this project. If you were an immigrant mother who received Medicaid-covered care during these years, your anonymized records could be included in the analyses.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the results could support expanding public insurance around pregnancy for non-qualified immigrants to reduce maternal complications and improve infant outcomes.
How similar studies have gone: Prior studies show Medicaid expansion often improves prenatal care and some birth outcomes, but direct comparisons of Emergency Medicaid versus full-scope coverage for non-qualified immigrants and the effects of very recent state expansions are less established.
Where this research is happening
-
Univ of Maryland, College Park
College Park, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Steenland, Maria Ward — Univ of Maryland, College Park
- Study coordinator: Steenland, Maria Ward
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.