The postpartum period - often called the "fourth trimester" - is a time of rapid and intense change in the life of a woman and her family, and uptake of health care during this transition is critical to optimizing women's long-term health and the health of their subsequent pregnancies. The importance of postpartum care has been reinforced by professional organizations, yet postpartum care in the United States remains inadequate. Substantial racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in health care uptake, quality, and outcomes exist. Improving health for all women requires the development of new, more comprehensive approaches to postpartum and interconceptional care. One potential model may be patient navigation, which is a barrier-focused, longitudinal, patient-centered intervention that offers support for a defined set of health services.

This protocol is to evaluate whether implementation of a postpartum patient navigation program improves health outcomes among low-income women. The investigators previously developed a postpartum patient navigation program, called Navigating New Motherhood (NNM), which introduced a clinic-level intervention in which a patient navigator assumed postpartum supportive and logistical responsibilities for low-income women. Navigation was associated with improvements in outcomes (retention in care, contraception uptake, vaccination, and depression screening) compared to those of a historical cohort. The investigators now propose to test the efficacy of the updated NNM model - called "NNM2" - via a randomized trial. The study will randomize 400 pregnant or postpartum women (1:1) with publicly-funded prenatal care to NNM2 versus usual care. Women randomized to navigation will be provided intensive, individualized, one-on-one navigation services through 12 weeks postpartum and, based on individual needs, ongoing, tapered navigation through one year postpartum. The NNM2 program will be grounded in understanding and addressing social determinants of health in order to promote self-efficacy, enhance access, and sustain long-term engagement. Participants will undergo surveys, interviews, and medical record review at 4-12 weeks and 11-13 months postpartum.

Aim 1 will evaluate whether the navigation program improves clinical outcomes at 4-12 weeks postpartum as measured via a composite of health status that includes retention in care, receipt of recommended counseling ("anticipatory guidance"), receipt of desired family planning method, postpartum depression screening/care, breastfeeding initiation/maintenance, and receipt of indicated vaccinations. Sub-Aims will include investigation of relevant outcomes at 11-13 months postpartum. Aim 2 will evaluate whether NNM2 improves patient-reported outcomes. Aim 3 additionally involves examining obstetric and primary care provider perspectives on the navigation program and on optimizing the postpartum transition. Completion of this study will fill an evidence gap by demonstrating whether postpartum patient navigation is an effective mechanism to improve women's short- and long-term health, enhance health care utilization, and improve patient and provider satisfaction.

NNM2 suspended enrollment due to COVID-19 beginning March 16, 2020. For already enrolled individuals, study visits and patient navigation activities were converted to tele-research and tele-navigation. Recruitment was planned to resume when the COVID-19 pandemic resolves and normal outpatient care has resumed. For individuals already recruited and whose care occurred during the early phases of the pandemic, the outcomes definitions were appropriately modified for the conduct of telemedicine during the pandemic. Recruitment resumed on June 8, 2020, with continued use of telemedicine or tele-research when appropriate. Given the ongoing pandemic, the modified outcomes definitions for telemedicine provision of care were retained.