In 2025, WAPC focused on sustaining and strengthening the work that has made a positive impact in perinatal care over the past several years. We poured into the quality improvement initiatives, professional education, and our annual conference to ensure they met the challenges of today, while keeping a pulse on the opportunities of tomorrow. We’re proud to reflect back and share highlights from the year and invite you to explore the full snapshot in our impact in 2025 below.
Annual Highlights PDF
Sustaining Systems Change in Perinatal Substance Use Care
Our WisPQC Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Initiative moved fully into its sustainment phase, after 18 months of collaborative QI work. Hospitals focused on embedding evidence-based practices into routine care and everyday practice,
Engagement remained strong across urban and rural hospitals in Wisconsin. While national models anticipate participation drops during sustainment, WisPQC teams showed continued ownership and minimal attrition. Quantitative data submission averaged 93% and qualitative submissions averaging 73%. WAPC provided nearly 150 hours of coaching and technical assistance to teams, and 86% of teams said they would recommend the initiative to colleagues.
In addition, all hospitals that pursued the Birthing Friendly Designation successfully achieved it, reinforcing a shared commitment to high-quality, equitable care.
Importantly, sustainment also created space for deeper equity-focused analysis. Half of participating teams stratified screening data by race and ethnicity, many for the first time, allowing hospitals to better understand differences in screening rates and identify opportunities to improve care for specific populations.
Perhaps most compelling was the sustained improvement in universal screening. What began as a 25 percent baseline screening rate increased to 78% during implementation and reached an average of 91% during the sustainment phase. These results reflect not only successful implementation, but lasting systems change.
Expanding Learning and Professional Development
Education remained a core focus for WAPC in 2025. WAPC hosted 29 webinars reaching over 1000 learners and perinatal professionals. This marked a 26.5 percent increase in participation compared to 2024.
Most notably, the Fetal Monitoring Case Review Webinar Series celebrated its 15th year, continuing to provide a trusted space for peer learning. In collaboration with the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, WAPC also delivered the Recognizing and Responding to Pregnancy and Postpartum Hypertension series. The three-part series reached over 400 participants from 17 states and two international locations, extending Wisconsin’s impact well beyond state lines.
In October, WAPC launched its Learning Portal, creating a centralized home for on-demand education and making it easier for perinatal professionals to access learning opportunities when and how they need them.
Feedback throughout the year reinforced the value of these efforts and demonstrated high session quality. Sessions consistently met learning and professional development needs, increased confidence in applying new knowledge to practice, and reinforced current clinical approaches.
Convening the Perinatal Community: Wisconsin Perinatal Conference 2025
The 2025 Wisconsin Perinatal Conference once again brought together over 160 perinatal professionals for connection, learning, and meaningful dialogue. The conference featured a robust program that included breakout sessions, plenary presentations, oral poster sessions, a Great Debate, roundtable discussions, and 41 accepted poster abstracts.
Feedback from attendees reflected both inspiration and engagement. Many highlighted the plenary presentations for their passion, depth and relevance, while noting the challenge of choosing between concurrent sessions because of the quality and relevance of the content. The conference was a space where attendees shared ideas (and sparked new ones) and reinforced the importance of collaboration across disciplines.
Looking Ahead
Taken together, 2025 demonstrated the power of sustaining our core mission of supporting perinatal professionals and building systems and an infrastructure that lasts.
We’re grateful to the clinicians, educators, partners, and community members who made this work possible, and we look forward to continuing this momentum into the years ahead.
View the 2025 Annual Highlights one-page PDF for a concise snapshot of the year’s impact.
