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Maternal mortality rates in the United States have dropped to their lowest levels in recent years, according to new data published on Thursday. The report, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics, compared maternal deaths in 2023 and 2024, with maternal deaths defined as the death of a woman during pregnancy or within 42 days of pregnancy termination. In 2024, 649 women died of maternal causes in the U.S., with a rate of 17.9 deaths per 100,000 births, according to the report. (Kekatos, 3/3)

The American Medical Association is overhauling how U.S. doctors report and bill for pregnancy services, bulldozing the current system of bundled payments and replacing it with more granular, itemized codes next year. The changes, shared exclusively with Healthcare Dive, could help improve poor maternity health outcomes in the U.S. But it’s also an acquiescence to specialty groups, which have long lobbied the powerful medical association that modern obstetric services are more complex than the current coding system is able to reflect. (Pifer Parduhn, 3/2)

Cradling his newborn daughter in his lap in their Indianapolis home, JaKobi Burton’s love for the new lady in his life is evident with each caress. The first-time dad’s commitment started months earlier. Burton attended every medical appointment and took classes with Dads to Doulas, a program created by the organization Dear Fathers that teaches Black fathers-to-be how to provide physical, mental and spiritual support up to and after childbirth. (Tang and Lamy, 2/27)

Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½Ò•îl Health News: Listen To The Latest 'Ñî¹óåú´«Ã½Ò•îl Health News Minute'

Sam Whitehead reads the week’s news: Some places are bringing back house calls to try to fight maternal and infant mortality, and almost all Americans benefit from health care subsidies in different forms. (Cook, 3/3)

When Brittany Allen takes her 17-month-old son to her sister’s house to play, she heads straight for the big pile of dirt in the backyard. For his health. When Leonidas was just a month old, he was fussy and often constipated. He wasn’t gaining enough weight. Allen had a test run on her infant’s gut microbiome—the collection of bacteria and other microorganisms that inhabit the digestive tract. (Petersen, 3/3)