Overview
The Florida Perinatal Quality Collaborative (FPQC) is a consortium of professionals dedicated to the advancement of perinatal health care. Housed in the Chiles Center at the University of South Florida College of Public Health, the FPQC works alongside our partners to achieve the goal of advancing the health and well-being of all Florida mothers and infants. Our mission is to always provide the best evidence-based perinatal care possible, and to further that care through data-driven education and training.
We're excited to announce that our first-ever Progress Report is now available! This report highlights the Collaborative's progress across our active initiatives for the 2025 calendar year.
Florida maternity hospitals participate in at least two FPQC initiatives
Increase in the number of patients with an early postpartum visit scheduled prior to discharge
Increase in patients referred for help with food, housing, safety, transportation, or utilities
Active Initiatives
Obstetric Hemorrhage Initiative 2.0
OHI 2.0 equips hospitals with the tools, guidance, and collaborative support needed to standardize protocols for recognizing and managing obstetric hemorrhage effectively. This second initiative builds on the success of our first OHI in 2013 and incorporates the updated Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health (AIM) Obstetric Hemorrhage Patient Safety bundle.
Obstetric Hemorrhage Initiative 2.0
Perinatal Quality Indicators (PQI)
The Perinatal Quality Indicators (PQI) Initiative supports hospital quality improvement efforts by providing hospital-specific semi-annual or quarterly reports of perinatal indicators and related reports.
Perinatal Quality Indicators (PQI)
Supporting Optimal Outcomes Through a Healing Environment (SOOTHE)
FPQC’s newest NICU quality improvement initiative that focuses on promoting a neuroprotective NICU culture by optimizing developmentally appropriate sensory care through Sensory Environment, Noxious Stimuli, and Positive Touch/Interactions. SOOTHE is informed by The Neonatal Integrative Developmental Care Model by Altimier & Phillips published in the Newborn & Infant Nursing Reviews (2016) 230–244.
Supporting Optimal Outcomes Through a Healing Environment (SOOTHE)
Safe Reduction of Primary Cesarean Birth Initiative
Launching January 1, 2027, FPQC’s newest Maternal Health Initiative, Safe Reduction of Primary Cesarean Birth, will address variation in primary cesarean delivery rates across Florida hospitals. The primary cesarean delivery rate among low-risk, first-birth deliveries in Florida hospitals ranges from 7.35% to 59.8%. This wide variation suggests clinical practice patterns may contribute and offers an opportunity for improvement. Applications are now open.
Safe Reduction of Primary Cesarean Birth Initiative
USF Health expands emergency maternity care training in Florida’s rural counties
Faculty and simulation experts with USF Health are joining forces to bring high-fidelity obstetric emergency training to rural care teams in 16 counties across Florida, thanks to a new grant from the Florida Department of Health.
USF Health expands emergency maternity care training in Florida’s rural counties
USF team strives to lower the pressure on hypertensive pregnancy disorders
Can hypertensive disorders affect an unborn baby, or threaten the life of a mother? A team at USF’s College of Public Health (COPH) is shedding new light on the subject through an ongoing effort launched at the Florida Maternal Hypertension Summit in Orlando in 2024. USF’s Florida Perinatal Quality Collaborative (FPQC) partnered with the Florida Hospital Association and two dozen other organizations to address ways to counter the increasing rates of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP).
USF team strives to lower the pressure on hypertensive pregnancy disorders
Dr. Bill Sappenfield receives Title V Lifetime Achievement Award
Dr. Bill Sappenfield, who recently retired from the USF College of Public Health, has received the Title V Lifetime Achievement Award.