New Orleans adopts nurse home visits to improve maternal, child outcomes

To improve maternal and infant health outcomes, New Orleans started a program enabling any resident to receive up to three free home nurse visits after giving birth in a New Orleans hospital. Families who received home visits were more likely to follow the recommended pediatric and postpartum checkup schedule. Moms and babies were less likely to need hospitalization, and overall health care spending decreased among families insured by Medicaid. About 10% of moms participating in the program received postpartum depression diagnoses compared with 6% of moms who did not receive visits. Results are similar to other states offering the program. A North Carolina study found three to seven home visits decreased emergency department visits by 50% in the year before a baby turned one. (KFF news article, 2/23/26)