PA PQC
Pennsylvania Perinatal
Quality Collaborative

The PA PQC is working to reduce maternal mortality and improve care for pregnant and postpartum women and newborns affected by opioids.


The PA PQC is administered by the Jewish Healthcare Foundation and WHAMglobal, and it is affiliated with the Northeast PQC (NEPaPQC)

The PA PQC provider sites may apply for OUD, NAS, and IPLARC Quality Improvement Awards by September 29, 2021 ( click here for the application).


The Pennsylvania Perinatal Quality Collaborative (PA PQC) was launched in April 2019, with funding from the Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs and the Henry L. Hillman Foundation as an action arm of the Maternal Mortality Review Committee (MMRC). Please see the report, “Pregnancy-Associated Deaths in Pennsylvania, 2013-2018,” about the causes of deaths. Over 60 birth sites and NICUs and over 10 health plans across the Commonwealth are actively identifying perinatal processes that need to be improved and quickly adopting best practices to achieve the common aims. The focus areas include maternal Opioid Use Disorder (OUD), Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS), contraceptive care, maternal depression, and severe hypertension. Please click the links below to view the PA PQC’s Driver Diagrams for these focus areas.

For an overview of the PA PQC’s 2021 initiatives, please view this presentation and webinar recording.


The PA PQC was created in 2019 when over 140 people from all the regions of the Commonwealth worked together to standup the PA PQC through an Advisory Group and a series of work groups on maternal OUD, NAS, and maternal mortality. The members represented State agencies, providers, health system associations, provider associations, health plans, community-based organizations, researchers, foundations, quality improvement collaboratives, and advocates. To position the PA PQC to expand its focus from OUD to Substance Use Disorders (SUD) and from NAS to Substance-Exposed Newborns (SEN), the PA PQC is re-convening statewide Advisory and Work Groups to update its Driver Diagrams and quality measures for maternal SUD and SEN. Please click here for more information, including how to join the work groups.