Babies, Business and the Bottom Line: Guest Blog by Jeanette Wiedemeier Bower, Executive Director, Greater Twin Cities and St. Cloud March of Dimes

Did you know that the societal cost of premature birth tops $26 billion annually? The March of Dimes board of directors in the Greater Twin Cities is sponsoring a breakfast presentation called Babies, Business, and the Bottom Line on Thursday, October 6, 2016, from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. to discuss the trend in health care costs related to prematurity.

Our leadership would like to invite Minnesota Health Action Group member organizations to join us! Prematurity is the #1 killer of babies in the United States and, of that $26 billion, more than $12 billion is assumed by private companies.

Our data show that a baby born at term (37 weeks or more) costs a company’s insurance roughly $4,500, compared to a premature baby at $55,000. And a micropremie’s cost is $1 million or higher. The more we can do to educate employees about risk factors for prematurity and the steps to a healthy pregnancy, the better chance we have of having healthy, term babies and getting a handle on the incredible societal costs associated with babies born too soon or too sick.

The March of Dimes has made a $75 million commitment to fund five Prematurity Research Centers through the U.S. – University of Pittsburgh, University of Chicago, the Ohio Collaborative (of 9 Universities), Stanford University, and the University of Washington – St. Louis. Through these centers, we are funding 300 of the brightest minds to finally solve the mystery of babies being born too soon, using a multi-disciplinary, team-science approach.

Our goal with this breakfast is to reach out to businesses, networks and companies in the Twin Cities that are unaware of the great research done by the March of Dimes to end birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality. To date, we have secured participation from CEOs and top managers representing Eide Bailly, Optum/UHG, Express Scripts, Insperity, Stinson Leonard Street, Gillette’s Children’s Hospital, Children’s Hospitals Minnesota, Medica, HealthPartners, and many more. This will be a great networking opportunity to see other companies that are interested in addressing the rising costs of health care for preterm births.

I hope to see you on October 6!

View the INVITATION to this event.