Doulas are incredible resources for birthing families, providing vital non-clinical support to birthing parents before, during, and after childbirth. There’s strong evidence that having access to a doula will support better birth and health outcomes for infants and their mothers.
This support is especially critical for Black communities and others who experience disparities in their birth and health outcomes. That’s why the Health Fund has made increasing access to doula care a key pillar of our Maternal & Infant Health (MIH) grant program since its launch in 2022, and our investments as an organization in doula care date back to 2016.
Doula care projects supported by Health Fund grants include efforts to:
• Recruit and train new doulas
• Increase direct doula services to address prenatal and post-partum needs
• Develop policies and systems that support doulas and increase access to services statewide
The doula landscape has evolved significantly in Michigan in the past few years, including an important policy change in 2023 that introduced mechanisms for organizations to seek reimbursement for doula services through Medicaid. This policy provides an important new avenue for families receiving Medicaid to pay for this support, which would otherwise be too costly for many to consider.
Projects take different approaches to expand access
Numerous Health Fund partners and grant-funded projects contributed to that evolution, and others are leveraging these changes to increase access in their communities. Here are a few examples of how our grant partners are working at different scales — from locally focused efforts embedded within communities to statewide, systemic supports — to increase access to doula care for Michigan families.
Ingham County Doula Cohort
Ingham County Health Department
This 2023 MIH grant is supporting the development of a cohort of Black doulas to provide perinatal and delivery support to Black birthing women in Ingham County.
The project incorporates input from the community served, and training is being led by North Star Doulas, a small, community-based, Black-led doula care service provider. Through July 2024, the project has trained 12 new doulas to provide culturally competent care to pregnant Black teens, birthing parents, and infants that have historically experienced significant disparities, with training of a second cohort planned.
In addition to trainings, monthly coaching, and development of a peer community, the project is helping new doulas register as Medicaid service providers with the State of Michigan. This step helps take advantage of the 2023 Medicaid policy updates to expand access to care and support sustainability for new doulas.
Muskegon County How YOU Birth Doula Initiative
Access Health, Inc.
Access Health has served as a fiduciary for this 2023 MIH grant, which has supported the growth of a multi-faceted Doula Hub to serve a network of doulas serving racially and economically marginalized communities in Muskegon. Similar to the Ingham County project, this initiative features a robust network of partners and a community-led design.
The Doula Hub was developed as a community-centered collaborative effort to increase doula access and utilization. It emerged from community efforts to promote racial understanding and strengthen early childhood services, and has been scaled through the Muskegon CHIR Livability Lab. Early support from the Muskegon Community Foundation and the Great Start Collaborative helped develop an initial cohort of 10 doulas.
The Health Fund’s grant has built on this progress by supporting recruitment and training of additional doulas to provide services and act as doula ambassadors, in addition to community education, outreach, administrative support, and assistance in navigating Medicaid.
Doula Medicaid Liaison
Michigan Department of Health and Human Services
In 2022, our Special Projects & Emerging Ideas cohort included a grant to MDHHS to develop centralized resources to assist doulas in navigating Medicaid enrollment and reimbursement. These efforts were critical to prepare the doula community for the policy changes that followed in 2023.
Through the project, MDHHS has worked with community organizations — including Focus:HOPE, Miigwech Inc., and Black Mothers Breastfeeding Association — to inform a comprehensive toolkit with wide-ranging information about Medicaid, develop a statewide doula registry, and create other resources to help doulas serve families on Medicaid.
The project includes important public engagement activities and outreach to strategic partners like hospital systems and health plans, all with an aim to build strong partnerships and a more cohesive system to enable families on Medicaid to access the benefits of doula support.
What’s Next?
Whether focused on the community level or the statewide level, these projects have achieved early success through a common emphasis on partnership, engaging stakeholders across sectors, supporting communities with high levels of need, and leveraging Medicaid to scale the reach of doula services. We aim to make additional investments to support doula care through our 2025 MIH Initiative.
Visit the MIH program page to view our RFP or sign up for an appointment during office hours to meet with a member of our program team. Applications are due on January 21, 2025. We’re accepting two-page concept papers related to potential projects through 5:00 p.m. on December 9.