California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative

What California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative does

California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative (CMQCC) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2006 at Stanford University School of Medicine to address rising maternal mortality, severe maternal morbidity (SMM), and racial disparities in California maternity care. Designated as California's Perinatal Quality Collaborative (PQC), it serves 217 member hospitals accounting for 99% of California births and operates the Maternal Data Center (MDC) — a web application linking state birth certificate data with patient discharge data to provide near-real-time benchmarking, now deployed to nearly 300 hospitals across five states.

CMQCC's core product surface comprises evidence-based quality improvement (QI) toolkits (hemorrhage, hypertensive disorders, sepsis, cardiovascular disease, venous thromboembolism, supporting vaginal birth, health equity, low-dose aspirin for preeclampsia, community birth transfer), the Maternal Data Center benchmarking platform, the HUDLS labor support education platform offering continuing nursing education, the Hospital Action Guide for Respectful and Equity-Centered Obstetric Care, the Obstetric Comorbidity Scoring System (developed with Stanford and UC Berkeley), and consumer education assets (My Birth Matters, Our Birth Matters). Five of its toolkits became the basis for national safety bundles through the Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health.

The organization operates a community-led, event-driven go-to-market targeting California birthing hospitals, combining QI collaboratives, monthly webinars, coaching calls, and enrollment-based membership. CMQCC's revenue is grant-dependent — $10 million HRSA State Maternal Health Innovation award (October 2023), CDC capacity-building funding (2022), and foundation support from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, California Health Care Foundation, and Yellow Chair Foundation — with toolkits and most resources provided free to member hospitals rather than through direct fees.

Name

California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative

Legal name

California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative

Website

https://cmqcc.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2006

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

CMQCC is a Stanford-affiliated nonprofit Perinatal Quality Collaborative that serves 217 California hospitals (99% of state births) with evidence-based maternal care toolkits, the Maternal Data Center benchmarking platform, and QI collaboratives addressing maternal mortality, morbidity, and racial disparities.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Maternal Healthcare Quality Improvement

NAICS

Other Individual and Family Services (624190), Individual and Family Services (6241)

SIC

Hospital & Medical Service Plans (6324)

akta.pro primary industry

Maternal, Child & Family Health Organizations (BPAGACAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Maternal, Child & Family Health Departments (HLAJAAAK), Healthcare & Clinical Professional Development (CME/CE) (EDAGANAJ)

Keywords

• Maternal health quality improvement
• Perinatal quality collaboratives
• Obstetric care toolkits
• Maternal data benchmarking
• Severe maternal morbidity prevention

Headquarters

HQ city

Palo Alto

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Grant Funding: CMQCC receives substantial grant funding from government agencies. HRSA awarded a $10 million State Maternal Health Innovation grant (5-year award). CDC selected CMQCC as one of 27 nationally identified Perinatal Quality Collaboratives for capacity-building funding. These grants fund QI initiatives, toolkits, and data center operations.
2. Foundation Funding: Funding from foundations including The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, California Health Care Foundation, and Yellow Chair Foundation (Skyline Foundation) supports specific programs like the My Birth Matters consumer education campaign and HUDLS platform development.
3. Membership Services: Member hospitals receive priority access to evidence-based toolkits, education, clinical guidance, and Maternal Data Center access. CMQCC serves 217 member hospitals accounting for 99% of California births.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

CMQCC is a nonprofit Perinatal Quality Collaborative that develops and disseminates evidence-based maternal care quality improvement toolkits, operates the Maternal Data Center for hospital-level benchmarking, runs structured QI collaboratives with coaching and webinars for member hospitals, and delivers labor support education (HUDLS) for clinical staff. Its resources target preventable maternal morbidity, mortality, and racial disparities, with member hospitals accounting for 99 percent of California births.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Maternal Data Center (MDC): Web application providing near-real-time benchmarking data, quality metrics, and performance reports for hospital perinatal care
• My Birth Matters
• Our Birth Matters
• HUDLS

Products and services

• Maternal Data Center (MDC) A web application that links California birth certificate data with patient discharge data to produce near-real-time perinatal performance metrics, benchmarking reports, and quality measure dashboards for member hospitals; now serving hospitals in California, Oregon, and Washington State.
• CMQCC Quality Improvement Toolkits Suite of evidence-based quality improvement toolkits covering obstetric hemorrhage (V3.0, 2022), hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (2021 update), obstetric sepsis (V2.0, 2025), supporting vaginal birth, cardiovascular disease, venous thromboembolism, substance exposure (mother and baby), low-dose aspirin for preeclampsia prevention (2025), early elective deliveries, health equity, and community birth partnership; delivered to member hospitals for clinical team implementation.
• HUDLS Labor Support Education Platform Hands-On Understanding and Demonstration of Labor Support online training platform for hospital staff, combining didactic modules with trainer-led bedside lessons, offering 5.0 Continuing Education contact hours approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing and a gradebook for trainers to track staff progress.
• My Birth Matters Consumer Education Campaign Consumer-facing education campaign and website that informs pregnant people about the overuse of C-sections and equips them to engage with their care teams, including animated videos, printable brochures, and posters in English and Spanish developed with California Health Care Foundation and Consumer Reports.
• Hospital Action Guide for Respectful and Equity-Centered Obstetric Care Six-module equity training resource that helps clinical teams understand health equity needs, collect stratified data, examine equity practices, leverage patient care data, build a culture of respectful care, and integrate community collaboration; distributed exclusively to California member hospitals through the CMQCC Accounts portal.
• Community Birth Transfer Toolkit Toolkit providing clinical guidance and protocols for safely transferring patients from community birth settings (home and birth center) into hospital obstetric care, supporting integration between midwives and hospital teams.
• CMQCC Quality Improvement Collaboratives Program Structured hospital engagement program in which member hospitals enroll via signed participation agreements, convene QI teams with nursing or provider champions, attend initiative meetings, present progress reports, and receive coaching from CMQCC on implementing maternal safety toolkits.
• CMQCC QI Academy Structured quality improvement training program for California hospital teams, providing cohort-based QI methodology education to support collaborative participation and clinical outcome improvement across member hospitals.

Quantifiable outcome

• More than 60% of California hospitals met the 23.9% NTSV cesarean birth target in 2020, up from 40% in 2015
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• Stanford University School of MedicinecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 23 October 2023CMQCC is housed at Stanford University School of Medicine and was founded there in 2006. Stanford's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology provides leadership, with Dr. Leslee L. Subak as Department Chair. The Maternal and Child Health Research Institute collaborates on research initiatives.
• Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health (AIM)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 19 April 2017AIM invited California to join its quality-improvement initiative as one of 12 states. CMQCC represents California in this national effort to receive benchmarking data and learn from other states. AIM's national safety bundles draw on CMQCC toolkits.
• California Department of Public Health (CDPH)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCDPH is a key partner in maternal health initiatives. The Maternal Child Adolescent Health Division collaborates with CMQCC on mortality reviews, data reporting, and quality improvement. CDPH releases pregnancy-related death surveillance reports.
• California Surgeon GeneralmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerDr. Diana Ramos, California Surgeon General, collaborates with CMQCC on state maternal health initiatives and HRSA-funded programs to close gaps driving maternal mortality.
• Department of Health Care ServicesmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCalifornia's DHCS partners with CMQCC on the State Maternal Health Innovation program to improve maternal health outcomes through coordinated state initiatives.
• March of DimesmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMarch of Dimes partners with CMQCC on the Low-Dose Aspirin initiative to prevent preeclampsia. Collaboration includes promoting LDA usage among pregnant individuals at risk, with community organizations and hospitals statewide.
• Every Mother CountsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for film screening events featuring Christy Turlington Burns' documentary 'Giving Birth in America' at Stanford campus. Dr. Christine Morton participated in audience Q&A sessions.
• University of California, BerkeleymajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerUC Berkeley collaborated with CMQCC and Stanford University to develop and validate the Obstetric Comorbidity Scoring System for predicting severe maternal morbidity.
• Public Health InstitutemajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPHI collaborates with CMQCC and CDPH on the California Pregnancy-Associated Mortality Review (CA-PAMR) and CA-PARC committee work for in-depth case reviews of maternal deaths.
• Oregon Maternal Data CentermajorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCMQCC provides Maternal Data Center platform to Oregon hospitals through the Oregon Maternal Data Center partnership, extending MDC services across state lines.
• Washington State Hospital AssociationmajorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorWSHA partners with CMQCC to provide the Maternal Data Center to Washington State hospitals through the WSHA MDC platform, serving hospitals in the Pacific Northwest.

Scale indicators5 records

Broad incumbents

• Vizient: Member-owned healthcare performance improvement company offering benchmarking, QI collaboratives, and analytics to U.S. hospitals and health systems. Comparable member-hospital GTM and QI collaborative structure.
• Health Catalyst: Healthcare data and analytics enterprise platform used by health systems for quality, population health, and outcomes improvement. Comparable on data platform/benchmarking dimension but much broader portfolio than perinatal QI.
• Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI): Long-established healthcare QI organization running breakthrough collaboratives and the IHI Open School; broader than CMQCC but competes for the same hospital QI program dollars and federal/state contracts in maternal health.
• Premier Inc. Large healthcare performance improvement and data analytics company serving thousands of U.S. hospitals. Could replicate or commercialize perinatal benchmarking functionality as part of its broader quality suite.

Emerging players

• Every Mother Counts: Mission-driven nonprofit focused on maternal health equity and access; partners with CMQCC on community events. Comparable nonprofit, grant-funded model and maternal health mission, though less QI-operationally focused.
• American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) District IX: Professional society that co-recognizes CMQCC initiatives (e.g., 2016 Service Award) and disseminates clinical guidance to the same California ob/gyn audience. Comparable stakeholder but not a direct QI collaborative competitor.

Direct peers

• March of Dimes: National nonprofit focused on maternal and infant health, including the Prematurity Research Center co-located with CMQCC at Stanford. Active partner on the Low-Dose Aspirin initiative; comparable mission and funding model (foundation + government).
• National Institute for Children's Health Quality (NICHQ): National nonprofit QI organization running perinatal and maternal health collaboratives for states and federal agencies. Comparable model (nonprofit QI collaborative for maternal/child health, government and foundation funded).
• California Perinatal Quality Care Collaborative (CPQCC): CPQCC is CMQCC's sister organization, also housed at Stanford, focused on neonatal/perinatal NICU quality improvement. Same parent institution, overlapping leadership (CMQCC and CPQCC share co-chairs Drs. Lyell and Profit), and parallel QI collaborative model.
• Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health (AIM): National consortium that distributes maternal safety bundles — many of which are based on CMQCC toolkits — to state PQCs and hospitals. Directly comparable mission and customer base (U.S. birthing hospitals), operating as a peer network rather than a single-state collaborative.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/cmqcc
• Facebookfacebook.com/CMQCC
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/california-maternal-quality-care-collaborative-cmqcc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative