Minnesota Maternal Mortality Review Committee

About the Committee

The Minnesota Maternal Mortality Review Committee (MMRC) reviews all pregnancy-associated deaths occurring in Minnesota residents and is authorized in Minnesota Statutes 145.901. The MMRC is charged with:

• Multidisciplinary review of all maternal deaths of Minnesota residents, with representatives from community members, organizations that interact with birthing people, and clinical care providers who attend and support births.
• Centering equity and to gain a holistic understanding of causes and contributing factors to maternal deaths to birthing persons.
• Making recommendations for improvements to care at the individual, provider, system, and community levels with potential for reducing or preventing future sentinel events.   
• Prioritizing findings and recommendations to guide the development of effective preventive measures and recommending actionable strategies for providers, systems, and communities to mitigate maternal morbidity and mortality.
• Disseminating the findings and recommendations to a broad array of individuals and organizations and promote the translation of findings and recommendations into quality improvement actions at all levels.

Additional information on membership requirements and rules can be found in the Maternal Mortality Review Committee Charter (PDF).

Membership

As outlined in Minnesota statute, the MMRC is a committee with up to 25 appointed members. The commissioner of health shall appoint members to the review committee. Membership specialties include but are not limited to: medical examiners or coroners, representatives of health care institutions that provide care to pregnant women, obstetric and midwifery practitioners, Medicaid representatives, representatives of state agencies, individuals from communities with disparate rates of maternal mortality, and other subject matter experts as appropriate.

We strongly encourage non-medical personnel as well as persons who represent organizations or programs or are professionally affiliated with work that serves birthing persons to identify such affiliation or plans for representation of the organization in the application. This includes but is not limited to: community-based programs, persons with lived experience of maternal morbidity, doulas, nurses, maternal health practitioners, obstetricians, perinatologists, midwives, nurse practitioners, social workers, family practice, emergency medicine, critical care, cardiology, infectious disease, psychiatric providers, mental health workers, family home visitors, public health, Tribal health, federally qualified health care centers, care coordinators, health leadership, reproductive justice workers, insurance payors, substance use treatment professionals, domestic violence workers, law enforcement, community health workers, and individuals serving birthing persons in all regions of Minnesota in a traditional and non-traditional manner.

Appointees will serve up to a 3-year term, as determined by the appointing body.

For additional questions on this process, please contact the MDH Women’s Health Consultant at Health.women-health@state.mn.us.

How to Apply

There are open positions on the MMRC. To apply, please follow these instructions.

How to Apply for a Board, Commission or Task Force Position on the Minnesota Secretary of State website (PDF)

1. Part 1: Interested applicants must submit an electronic application through the Minnesota Secretary of State’s (MNSOS) Boards and Commissions Open Positions portal. MNSOS applications are available now and will remain open until all seats are filled.
2. While completing the appointment process, applicants can submit cover letters, resumes, references, and bodies of work for consideration.

Meetings

Meetings will be held every other month, virtually. Meeting frequency can be increased by discretion of co-chairs.

Other meetings to be determined.

For more information about the MMRC, please contact the Women’s Health Consultant at Health.women-health@state.mn.us or 651-539-3044.