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This paper describes a health equity-focused partnership between an academic health center and a large metro public health department aimed at improving health care delivery in the postpartum period to reduce maternal-infant mortality. We describe our experience launching Family Connects Chicago at one of four Chicago pilot hospitals across the planning, implementation, and evaluation phases. Key sustainability factors are discussed including cooperative data-sharing, shared funding mechanisms, ongoing engagement strategies across teams, shared leadership, and interprofessional collaboration models. We share implementation strategies to overcome challenges including the commitment of a diverse interprofessional team, a focus on mutual, clear goals, an understanding of shared responsibility and accountability, shared resources, and frequent, open, and honest communication. Successful outcomes including over 1,500 virtual and in-home visits over the first 22 months highlight the need for operational best practice blueprints for meaningful and productive public-private partnerships promoting health equity.

In June 1974, Michigan Public Law 155 was enacted. This law permits a pharmacist to exercise drug product selection under specified conditions. The intent of the legislation is to achieve savings in prescription drug costs by encouraging pharmacists to dispense less costly, generically equivalent products. For this legislation to be effective, there have to be many substitutable products for a sufficient number of drugs; there has to be minimal interference with pharmacists' judgment; and pharmacists must be aware of the products available. As part of a survey, we attempted to measure physicians' and pharmacists' knowledge of generically equivalent products. Pharmacists demonstrated a higher level of knowledge of drug products. Continuing education must respond to the needs of more complicated societal demands.