MCH Workforce Development

The Catalyst Center serves as a partner with the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs (AMCHP) and the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) to form the Access to Care Core for the University of North Carolina’s National Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Workforce Development Center.  The Center is critically needed to train state Title V MCH workforce and students to meet emerging priorities in four key areas related to implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA):

• access to care;
• quality improvement;
• systems integration;
• and population health management.

The National Center engages and deploys the expertise of key partners in academia and practice in the design, implementation, and evaluation of evidence-based training and technical assistance to strengthen the capacity and skills of the MCH workforce and MCH graduate and undergraduate pipeline to play key leadership roles in ACA implementation. The Catalyst Center co-leads the Access to Care Core with AMCHP to guide the strategic direction of work related to access to care under the National Center such as providing direction and content expertise in planning, developing and delivering training curricula designed to increase the knowledge of Title V leaders, staff and MCH students on the implications of the ACA. In partnership with AMCHP, training content specifically related to access to care under the ACA and CYSHCN is developed for webinars, conference calls, online courses, and tutorials for a national audience of MCH leaders, staff and students. Catalyst Center staff contribute to training and intensive technical assistance activities such as facilitating communities of practice and creating content for intensive, customized technical assistance to specific states or regions, and participating in site visits. Moreover, the staff contributes to the development of course curricula for MCH graduate and undergraduate pipeline students.