kcentv.com - KCEN HD - Waco, Temple, and KilleenNew Initiative Targets Preterm Births/Elective Deliveries

(CNN)- Federal health officials are getting serious about reducing the rising number of preterm births and early elective deliveries by promising more than $40 million in grants to help reduce those trends.

The Department of Health and Human Services launched the Strong Start initiative on Wednesday, which will provide funding to health care providers and other organizations that offer prenatal care to women covered by Medicaid. It will also kick off a national campaign to educate hospitals, doctors and mothers that early elective deliveries– where babies are born before 39 weeks of gestation – can lead to a number of health related problems for both the mother and child.

"Preterm births are a growing public health problem that has significant consequences for families well into a child's life," said Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. "The Strong Start initiative will help give expectant mothers the care they need for a healthy delivery and a healthy baby."

"As a nurse, I know the importance of prenatal care and the risks associated with early deliveries," said CMS Acting Administrator Marilyn Tavenner, whose agency will be distributing these grants. HHS' Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is teaming up with groups like the March of Dimes and The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists to address what they say is a major problem.

According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, during the last 20 years, premature births have risen 36%. Each year, more than a half a million premature infants are born and these children often need extra medical attention and eventually require services like special education. ACOG says elective deliveries, those done before 39 weeks for non-medical reasons, increase the risk of complications for mother and child significantly.

"One of the most certain ways of helping babies get a good start in life... delivering no baby earlier than 39 weeks, unless medical or obstetric complications require otherwise to keep mother and child safe," said Dr. Hal C. Lawrence, Executive Vice President of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. "Our joint initiative will help bring this important information to women and physicians across the nation, and has enormous potential to make a real and lasting change in how we care for expectant moms, and more importantly how expectant moms expect us to care for them."

March of Dimes President Jennifer Howse calls the initiative the single most important step towards preventing prematurity to date. "Working together to eliminate medically unnecessary early deliveries will reduce the emotion and financial burden of prematurity for thousands of families."

That financial burden, according to CMS, can cost the agency an estimated $20,000 in medical costs for a preemie's first year of life compared to $2,100 for a full-term baby. It estimates the savings to Medicaid will be more than $75 million a year.