Maryland’s capacity to care for the mental health of mothers and pregnant people ranked higher than 37 states, but still only scored a C, in a new report by a national nonprofit.
The Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health gave the United States a national grade of D+ on its 2024 Maternal Mental Health State Report Card. Individually, 29 states received Ds or Fs.
California topped the list, with a B+ grade, followed by Pennsylvania, Utah, and Washington each earning a B-. Maryland was among the nine states and Washington, D.C., that received a C this year.
Maryland’s score improved slightly since last year, when it earned a C- in 2023. It was one of 34 states whose grades increased this year.
The policy center released its first Maternal Mental Health State Report Card in 2023 after “recognizing that in the U.S., responsibility for healthcare systems and health outcomes largely fall to the states.”
Among the changes made to the report in its second year were the addition of measures related to prenatal and postpartum depression screening claims. Those measures helped boost Maryland’s grade.
The national grade also saw slight improvement, from a D in 2023. However, these improvements have been too small, according to the report’s authors, who wrote that “states continue to fail mothers” when it comes to caring for their mental health and well-being.
The authors outline several areas in which states can further improve their maternal mental health (MMH) care.
In Maryland, obstetric providers do submit claims to private insurers for prenatal and postpartum MMH screening. However, Maryland Medicaid does not require data collection about these screenings.
The state does not have at least one inpatient MMH treatment program, nor does it have outpatient intensive or partial hospitalization MMH program.
While Maryland has an adequate ratio of MMH prescribers to the perinatal population, the state does not meet the ratio for non-prescriber MMH providers to that same population.
