A sonogram and a home pregnancy test.
Published on May 7, 2026 at 4:54 pm
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A new statewide health initiative aims to improve medical care for pregnant and new mothers. It was announced Thursday morning during a roundtable at Jacksonville’s Baptist Health.
Presented by Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration, the new “From the Start” initiative will also increase access to prenatal and postpartum care and address issues that affect vulnerable populations.
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From the Start was developed to improve the health of pregnant women who are on Florida Medicaid, helping them access the support and resources needed from pregnancy through the first year of their child’s life, AHCA Secretary Shevaun Harris said in a news release.
“Florida continues to focus on families, and the From the Start initiative highlights the meaningful role we have in helping mothers and babies thrive,” Harris said. “Florida Medicaid covers nearly half of births statewide, so this initiative is truly an opportunity to align efforts across health plans to ensure every mother has access to quality care to ensure a bright start and healthy future.”
Speaking to Jacksonville Today after the roundtable, Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville President Nicole Thomas said Baptist is expanding its labor and delivery services, including services at the region’s only Level IV Regional Perinatal Health Care Center for women with high-risk pregnancies and critically ill newborns.
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The effort will “help us really create a wraparound safety net for Moms, expectant moms, to be able to address many of the social determinants that really predict outcomes for pregnancy,” Thomas said. “And we know that 80% of those happen outside of the walls of the hospital, so Baptist is really excited to be a part of the ecosystem that will help improve maternal care going forward.”
Under Florida’s Statewide Medicaid Managed Care program, health plans offer a wide array of services for their members. But AHCA officials said that no single health plan’s offerings look alike.
From the Start will line up efforts across all health plans participating in the managed care system to offer the same enhanced services geared towards improving pre- and postnatal outcomes.
Highlights of the “From the Start” initiative include:
- Aligned member and provider incentives tied to ensuring early notification of pregnancies, maintaining timely prenatal appointments, and postpartum follow-up
- Coverage of unlimited doula services
- Coverage of remote patient monitoring linked to a nurse care manager for high-risk and rising risk pregnant women
- Reimbursing for obstetric mobile care services — ensuring greater access to care in underserved areas
- Providing enhanced assistance for pregnant members going through the Medicaid redetermination process, in partnership with the Department of Children and Families and other community organizations like Healthy Start
- Reducing transportation barriers to appointments
- Providing home delivered meals for high-risk pregnant women with special dietary needs
These resources and benefits, along with many others, will be universally covered by all health plans to ensure optimal birth outcomes, AHCA officials said.
Faye Johnson, CEO of the Northeast Florida Healthy Start Coalition, applauded the moves. Her agency supports pregnancy, birth and postpartum programs for families in Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau and St. Johns counties.
“We know all too well that early risk identification, removing barriers and an ecosystem of holistic support matters deeply for improving maternal and infant health success for vulnerable populations,” she said. “Together, we can ensure every mother, child and family gets what they need to thrive.”
AHCA is Florida’s chief health policy and planning entity, responsible for administering the state’s Medicaid program, licensing and regulation of almost 50,000 health care facilities statewide.
