Kentucky earned a C grade in the Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health’s latest annual report, joining 25 other states at that level. The report reflects the persistent challenge that about one in five mothers in the U.S. experience maternal mental health conditions like postpartum depression, and most do not receive the support and treatment they need.
Untreated maternal mental health disorders are estimated to cost the U.S. $14.2 billion annually and can have lasting impacts on women’s well-being, family stability and children’s development. According to the Policy Center, the national performance remains problematic: no states received As or failing grades, 11 states earned Bs, 15 states earned Ds, and 25 states earned Cs.
Kentucky’s score improved from a C- in 2025 and a D in both 2024 and 2023, when the Policy Center first introduced the maternal mental health report cards. The state’s 2026 improvement came from adding a perinatal psychiatry consultation program, improving prenatal maternal mental health screenings and improving postpartum screening claim submission rates. However, Kentucky lost points for no longer meeting the maternal mental health prescriber ratio of three per 5,000 births.
Areas of Strength and Gaps
Kentucky was a top performer in nine of the 27 measures, particularly in the policy and payment domain. These include having a prenatal screening rate above 10%, a perinatal psychiatry consultation program, a state perinatal quality collaborative prioritizing maternal mental health, and Medicaid reimbursement for group parenting programs without requiring a child diagnosis. However, Kentucky failed to meet three of four screening and detection measures, five of six provider and treatment measures, and three of 12 policy and payment measures.
The Policy Center’s CEO, Joy Burkhard, stated that while progress is being made, “the U.S. is providing mediocre maternal mental health care at best.” The organization offers a Maternal Mental Health Roadmap to help states improve, focusing on efforts to increase access to maternal mental health care, improve screenings and policies, and strengthen parental supports.
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://www.the-messenger.com/dawson_springs_progress/news/article_66794754-1877-5bb0-855b-f5ad098b01c9.html