D.C. Safe Babies Safe Moms (SBSM), an initiative by MedStar Health, has launched a project, called AI/ML Learning to Reduce Maternal and Infant Health Disparities, at the Clinton Global Initiative 2023 Meeting.

The project’s goal is to enhance patient care, address racial disparities in maternal care, and reduce pregnancy-related mortality, particularly among Black women.

It will leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to develop a maternal and infant health safety surveillance system for hospitals.

In addition, a Black Box approach will be adopted to analyse patient health records with natural language processing and clinical informatics.

This system will identify risks that could lead to adverse outcomes for birthing individuals and their babies, helping care teams tailor care.

Over a three-year timeline, the SBSM team plans to create a beta model of the surveillance system, with ongoing collaboration and dissemination of findings to improve patient safety.

MedStar Health Research Institute healthcare delivery research vice president Angela D. Thomas said: “The status quo for maternal and infant care in the US is unacceptable, but the momentum for change is here.

“With the support from the Clinton Global Initiative and our partners in this project, we can not only make things better for birthing individuals and their babies in the communities MedStar Health serves, but we can also create solutions that can be replicated in health systems across the country.”