A new Maternal Health Accelerator aims to reduce severe complications for mothers through coordinated care and evidence-based interventions.

In Fort Worth’s 76104 ZIP code, the infant mortality rate once reached 19 deaths per 1,000 live births, more than triple the national average. Across North Texas, maternal morbidity rates rank among the highest in the country.

Now, a $25 million initiative led by the Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at Texas Christian University and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center is determined to reverse those numbers.

The North Texas Maternal Health Accelerator (MHA) unites academic medical centers, hospitals and community partners around a shared goal: reducing severe obstetric complications across the region and creating a national model for maternal care. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex delivers more babies than 30 U.S. states — making it an ideal laboratory for developing maternal health interventions that could be replicated nationwide.

The MHA has already started implementing its first program, one that tackles the most common severe obstetric complication with a surprisingly simple solution.

Iron Pills Save Lives
This spring, the MHA started distributing free prenatal iron supplements at John Peter Smith Family Health Center. The program has since distributed 15,000 bottles of iron pills across 60 clinical and community sites across Tarrant and Dallas counties. The preventive therapy targets blood transfusions, the leading cause of severe maternal complications.

The intervention originated from research conducted by UT Southwestern and Parkland Health, which showed that pregnant patients who receive free over-the-counter iron supplements — rather than a recommendation to purchase them — experience significantly fewer blood transfusions.

“We can make a large impact on our patients’ outcomes with simple interventions,” said Dr. Catherine Spong, the Paul C. MacDonald Distinguished Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology at UT Southwestern.

For Dr. Ive Avila, a 2022 graduate of TCU’s Burnett School of Medicine now completing her OB-GYN residency at Baylor Scott and White Memorial Hospital in Temple, Texas, the intervention addresses a problem she sees regularly.

“If a woman is going into labor with an iron deficiency,” she said, “she can decompensate that much more quickly than a mom that is not anemic.”

That rapid deterioration can trigger a cascade of costly interventions — medications, fluids, blood transfusions, medical devices and potentially emergency surgery.

“Pregnancy and labor are not as easy and benign as most people think,” Avila said. “Things can go wrong quickly, and that can be life-changing for the entire family.”

A Comprehensive Approach
While iron supplementation is the Accelerator’s first initiative, the program encompasses a range of evidence-based interventions designed to address maternal health at every stage.

Hospitals across North Texas will implement standardized simulation training to prepare clinical teams for obstetric emergencies. The initiative also provides trained doulas to offer emotional, physical and informational support to mothers. Families will be connected with community resources through the Parent Pass® mobile application — a 24/7 postpartum resource navigation tool — and the Help Me Grow navigation line, which conducts screenings and connects mothers to local services.

Perhaps most critically, the MHA addresses a coordination gap that has long plagued maternal care: One in four patients who deliver in one hospital are readmitted to a different hospital, creating dangerous information silos. The initiative’s cross-system data coordination ensures all providers have access to each patient’s complete medical history.

Building on Years of Local Advocacy
The MHA brings together more than 50 partners, including area hospitals, community health organizations and local government leaders. Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker began convening partners several years ago to form a countywide coalition that ultimately helped shape the initiative. Coordination is supported by the Child Poverty Action Lab (CPAL) in Dallas, with UT Southwestern serving as co-investigator. My Health My Resources of Tarrant County (MHMR) and Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation (PCCI) serve as key partners.

“I believe the way we care for mothers and children is a true measure of our city’s success,” Parker said. “This project enhances collaboration and will create real impact in our region for years to come.”

Since late 2024, 11 philanthropic funders — led by the Episcopal Health Foundation and the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation — have committed nearly $25 million to support the initiative’s early work. The Episcopal Health Foundation is also conducting a financial analysis to demonstrate the cost savings achieved by the model, thereby helping to make the case for future state support to replicate the approach.

“At the Burnett School of Medicine, we are deeply committed to improving health care access and outcomes for all Texans,” said Dr. Stuart D. Flynn, founding dean of the Burnett School of Medicine and the initiative’s principal investigator. “This is collaboration at its best — Texans coming together to help Texas and the entire country.”

“Imagine an effective solution that not only saves lives but is also efficient. It saves money and it creates models that can be replicated all over the country,” said TCU Chancellor Daniel W. Pullin. “When we come together to solve a problem, the impact is real, and in this case, the impact saves lives, resources and prevents long-term challenges.”

In addition to TCU and UT Southwestern, area hospitals from every major health system in North Texas, including Baylor Scott & White, JPS Health Network, Texas Health Resources, Medical City Healthcare and Methodist Health System, have committed to this work with the shared goals of reducing maternal morbidity and deaths.

A Replicable Model
Over the next three years, the Accelerator aims to reduce severe obstetric complications in North Texas by more than 20%, demonstrating a scalable, data-driven model that could benefit mothers and babies nationwide.

“The future of maternal health care across the United States starts today in North Texas,” said Dr. David Nelson, division chief of maternal-fetal medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center.

“Advancing new models for maternal health requires an upfront investment in infrastructure that unites dozens of providers and community partners around a shared vision,” said Alan Cohen, president of CPAL. “We have the opportunity to improve outcomes and reduce costs.”

For TCU, the initiative reflects the Burnett School of Medicine’s mission to prepare future physicians to deliver compassionate, evidence-based care that transforms health outcomes in the communities they serve.

For Avila, the initiative is personal. She gave birth to her son, Quentin, via emergency C-section in 2022 after losing half a liter of blood in 30 minutes. She knows the stakes.

“I truly believe that moms are the center of the family, and taking care of our moms should be the number one global health priority,” she said. “It makes me so incredibly proud” to see TCU leading this initiative.

-Caroline Collier