Friday, May 09, 2025
PITTSBURGH (May 9, 2025) — This Mother’s Day, many moms will be handed flowers. But for far too many, what they really need is care they can count on — support that goes beyond symbolic gestures and meets them in the messy, vulnerable, powerful reality of motherhood. That’s why Highmark Wholecare is launching MOMENTUM — a new maternal health initiative that brings critical prenatal and postpartum care into the everyday spaces where mothers already are: their local pharmacies.
MOMENTUM: Maternal Outreach through Mobile Engagement, Navigation, Testing, and Unified Medicine is a first-of-its-kind program designed to address Pennsylvania’s maternal health crisis with the depth and coordination it demands. The state’s maternal mortality rate is more than triple the national average, according to a 2024 state report highlighting 2020 mortality rates. The same report noted that for Black women in the state, the risk of dying from pregnancy-related complications was nearly 80% higher than for white women. In rural communities, lack of access to providers leads to missed screenings, undetected complications and preventable suffering and loss.
In collaboration with the Pennsylvania Pharmacists Care Network (PPCN), MOMENTUM will activate 110 pharmacies across 27 counties as entry points for maternal health support. Mothers can receive blood pressure screenings, safe medication guidance, social needs assessments, and prenatal nutrition advice — all delivered by pharmacists trained to connect them to additional care. That includes doulas, postpartum behavioral health support, diaper and milk banks, and home-visiting nurses, depending on each woman’s needs.
“Our goal is to make maternal care feel local, human and accessible,” said Kelsey Linn, manager of Pharmacy Care Management at Highmark Wholecare. “Whether it’s a pharmacist checking in, a doula standing by your side, or a warm meal waiting at home — this is health care that doesn’t stop at the hospital doors.”
MOMENTUM reflects Highmark Wholecare’s broader maternal health strategy, grounded in whole-person care. Across 14 counties, Medicaid-covered doula support is available. Post-discharge meals are delivered to new moms. Group prenatal models like Centering Pregnancy are offered. Mobile clinics bring services to areas with few providers. And across it all, behavioral health is integrated from pregnancy through recovery.
“Our pharmacies are already trusted by their communities,” said Rob Maher, president and COO of PPCN. “This partnership equips them with the tools to do even more — to help mothers not just get care but stay connected to it.”
The launch is supported by a wide network of aligned organizations, including Healthy Start, First Steps and Beyond, the Black Maternal Health Caucus, BlueStar digital health, Western PA Diaper Bank, and the Mid-Atlantic Mothers’ Milk Bank. Each brings specialized resources to make sure care isn’t just available — it’s personal and complete.
Highmark Wholecare is also chairing the March for Babies campaign through the March of Dimes for the second year in a row — and, after setting a donation record last year, aiming to break the $1 million fundraising mark for maternal health in Western and Central Pennsylvania.
To find a participating pharmacy near you, visit: https://cpesn.com/pharmacy-locator
About Highmark Wholecare
We believe in caring for the whole person in all communities where the need is greatest. We see a future in which everyone has equal opportunity to achieve their best health. Through our leading Medicaid and Medicare programs, we are coordinating health care that goes beyond doctors and medicine that helps members achieve not just physical health but also delivers whole person care. Our team members are helping to drive this new kind of health care for our 330,000 Medicaid and Medicare members in collaboration with a network of 29,000 primary care physicians, specialists, hospitals and other ancillary providers. We are also committed to supporting our neighbors through our many community outreach and engagement programs.
About the Pennsylvania Pharmacists Care Network
The Pennsylvania Pharmacists Care Network (PPCN), part of CPESN® USA, is a clinically integrated network of more than 200 community pharmacies committed to advancing community-based care and health equity. PPCN pharmacies provide enhanced services that support medication safety, chronic disease management, and local access to care.
About CPESN® USA
CPESN® USA is a clinically integrated, nationwide organization of pharmacy networks organized to advance community-based pharmacy practice. CPESN® Networks empower community-based pharmacies that are deeply rooted within their community by fostering their ability to provide high quality, patient-centered enhanced services. CPESN® pharmacies integrate with the other providers on the patient’s care team and coordinate medical treatment which has led to better medication adherence, higher patient satisfaction, and lower healthcare costs. You can now find CPESN® Networks of pharmacy providers in 42 states across America. To learn more, please visit www.cpesn.com.
For more information, contact
John Pepper
Highmark Wholecare
412-951-1533
jpepper@highmarkwholecare.com
