California Primary Care Postpartum Clinical Workgroup

In 2025, CQC convened a clinical expert workgroup to guide the development of standards, workflows and strategies to support postpartum patients in primary care settings. This workgroup brings together leaders from primary care and maternal health to:

• Define the role of primary care in supporting birthing people throughout the postpartum period (12 weeks to 12 months)
• Co-design clinical guidance, care coordination workflows and equity-centered standards for postpartum care
• Identify actionable strategies for improving care transitions between maternity and primary care
• Provide feedback on draft handoffs, checklists and implementation tools to support primary care teams
• Support alignment with statewide maternal health efforts, including the Department of Health Care Services’ Transforming Maternal Health initiative

Final deliverables include an issue brief, Bridging the Postpartum Gap in California: A Consensus Framework for Transitioning from Maternity Care to Primary Care During the Postpartum Year, and implementation-ready tools that help clarify provider responsibilities and support integration of postpartum care into advanced primary care models.