Hoppe shares STAC updates at Meriter Foundation Board Meeting

On December 11, 2024, Kara Hoppe, DO, PhD, associate professor in the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, shared updates about her Staying Healthy After Childbirth (STAC) program at the UnityPoint Health-Meriter Hospital Foundation Board Meeting. Hoppe’s STAC program has its origins from a Remote Patient Monitoring program that was originally funded in 2016 by the Meriter Foundation.

The Meriter Foundation board invited Hoppe to share an update about her work as it aligns closely with a key health strategy of improving outcomes for parents and babies. Hoppe shared reflections on how STAC, since becoming standard of care at Meriter, has decreased readmissions for postpartum hypertension and reduced maternal morbidity and mortality. 

In 2024, Dr. Hoppe’s STAC program became the Core Research Project for the UW–Madison Prevention Research Center (PRC), a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-funded center focused on maternal and child health. With PRC funding of $600,000 a year over five years, Hoppe seeks to reduce racial health disparities and improve maternal and infant health outcomes for Black women by offering blood pressure monitoring during pregnancy to catch more instances of hypertension, and work with community-based partners such as doula organizations and public health departments to bring the program outside of hospital and clinic walls. 

Incredible work, Dr. Hoppe!