Comments – Michigan Medicaid Coverage of Doula Services Proposed Policy

To: Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, Janell Troutman, TroutmanJ1@michigan.gov 

Re: Open comments – Michigan Medicaid Coverage of Doula Services Proposed Policy

Comments submitted by: Black Mothers’ Breastfeeding Association, (800) 313-6141, info@bmbfa.org, www.BMBFA.org  

Date: June 2, 2022

Founded in 2007, Black Mothers’ Breastfeeding Association (BMBFA) is a non-profit organization with a mission to reduce racial inequities in breastfeeding support for Black families. The mission is carried out by way of direct service, education, advocacy, and maternal-child-health technology. BMBFA, a community-based organization in Detroit, MI, is known for amplifying community voices and integrating the lived experiences of Black families into its program design and execution. 

BMBFA is highly regarded as a field leader locally, statewide, and nationwide; providing expert contributions to The U.S. Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding and the State of Michigan Breastfeeding Plan. BMBFA’s signature work, Black Mothers’ Breastfeeding Club, has run without interruption since 2008 in Detroit and has been replicated throughout the nation. BMBFA is an innovator: mastermind of the Birth & Breastfeeding Leadership Institute, longstanding community-based doula trainer & employer, and high-tech inventor of the BMBFA B’Right Hub, the virtual community for parent clubs. 

In 2013, BMBFA started its Community-based Doula Program as a replication site of HealthConnect One. In 2018, BMBFA successfully achieved HealthConnect One site accreditation. In 2019, BMBFA was approved as a State Licensed Proprietary School for Community-based Doula Training by the State of Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. BMBFA has trained and employed community-based doulas serving hundreds of families in the Detroit area. 

In August of 2021, BMBFA hosted the first-ever Michigan Community-based Doula Summit. A diverse group of 280 participants joined from across Michigan and the United States. With input from summit participants, BMBFA published the Michigan Community-based Doula SWOT Analysis to optimize opportunities for the sustainability, availability, and accessibility of community-based doula care across the state of Michigan. From that analysis, policy recommendations for viable community-based doula care were published.  In late 2021, building on the successes of both the Detroit Better Maternal Outcomes Project and the inaugural Michigan Community-based Doula Summit, BMBFA transitioned the Pregnancy Design Team to the Detroit Community-based Doula Task Force, composed of community-based doulas throughout metro-Detroit.

Based on 15 years of experience, BMBFA has listed its comments and recommendations for the proposed policy for Michigan Medicaid Coverage of Doula Services HERE.