Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City (Blue KC) and BioNexus KC have partnered since 2012 to award more than $1 million in grants to projects that improve the health and wellness of the Kansas City community. BioNexus KC has recently issued a request for proposal (RFP) on behalf of Blue KC for applied research projects that improve not only the quality of the healthcare process but also outcomes for Black and Brown birthing parents and children.
Maternal mortality rate (MMR) and severe maternal morbidity (SMM) have increased approximately 200 percent over the past 20 years. African American and American Indian/Alaska Native birthing people experience the highest burden of poor outcomes, with Asian and Hispanic/Latina people experiencing higher rates than non-Hispanic white people.
In Kansas, Black parents and other ethnic minorities account for 13 percent of births but 60 percent of all birthing person deaths. In both Kansas and Missouri, Black birthing people are two times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than non-Hispanic white birthing people.
Blue KC acknowledges that social and political determinants of health are significant drivers of these health outcomes. The KC region needs solutions that address longstanding structural inequities while eliminating avoidable, racialized disparities.
One grant of up to $50,000 is planned to be awarded to an applied research project that improves the quality of the healthcare process and outcomes for Black and Brown birthing parents and children. Proposals should also aim to reduce health disparities; improve effectiveness, efficiency, or efficacy of birthing person and/or child healthcare; and/or improve access to birthing person and/or child healthcare across the Kansas City region.
For more information about the Transforming KC Health Outcomes Research Grant click here.
By: Blue KC