Midwifery Week 2026: The Power of Midwifery: A Policy Roadmap to Transform Maternal Health in the District of Columbia-Maryland-Virginia Region​

The Power of Midwifery: Developing a Regional Policy Roadmap webinar presents how a convening of 73 midwives, physicians, policymakers, and advocates across the DC-Maryland-Virginia region developed an actionable, evidence-based policy roadmap for championing CNM, CM and CPM led care. Drawing on stakeholder input and grounded in the principles of birth justice and lived experience, the roadmap delivers state-specific priorities from reimbursement equity and hospital privileges to workforce pipeline and governance reform with phased implementation pathways and measurable milestones through 2029. Whether you are a clinician, advocate, educator, or policymaker, this session will equip you with an exemplar of a coordinated regional strategy to strengthen, sustain, and diversify the midwifery workforce and expand equitable access to high-quality maternity care in your region.

This session is pre-recorded and will be available at 9:00 am on October 8.

1. Describe the current policy landscape for midwifery workforce regulation, reimbursement, and governance across the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia, including jurisdiction-specific barriers to expanding access to midwifery care.
2. Identify at least three actionable, evidence-based policy priorities from the tri-regional roadmap — spanning payment parity, hospital privileges, independent governance, and workforce pipeline — and explain the rationale and implementation pathway for each.
3. Apply a coordinated advocacy framework to advance midwifery workforce policy in their own jurisdiction, using the roadmap’s phased milestones and stakeholder engagement strategies to support short-, mid-, and long-term change through 2029.