Maddie Reimer, BSN, RN

I would like to nominate Maddie Reimer, RN, from RUSH OB/GYN for the DAISY Award because of the extraordinary advocacy and compassion she showed me as I tried to access postpartum doula care during my high-risk pregnancy through Illinois' new Birth Equity Act.

Illinois recently expanded insurance coverage for doula care through the Birth Equity Act, but because the benefit is so new, navigating the insurance process has been incredibly difficult. I experienced postpartum depression and anxiety after my first pregnancy, so arranging postpartum support before I give birth has been very important to me. I started working on accessing this benefit months in advance, even before my embryo transfer for IVF, because I did not want to wait until I was struggling postpartum with a newborn and toddler to ask for help.

I had already arranged postpartum doula care through Partum Health, the maternal health care organization I used during my first pregnancy, which provides birth and postpartum doula care along with lactation, mental health, physical therapy, nutrition, and other pregnancy and postpartum services. However, when my insurance company told me I needed a PPO/network adequacy exception because I couldn't find an available in-network doula, Maddie immediately stepped in to help. BCBS had provided me with only five in-network doula options in the Chicagoland area, and I was unable to find one who was both available and able to provide the overnight postpartum care I needed.

This was not a routine request with an obvious process. Maddie tried calling my insurance company herself because she wanted to understand exactly what documentation they needed from RUSH. She remained on hold for 47 minutes without ever reaching a representative. Rather than simply telling me she couldn't get through and leaving me to figure it out on my own, Maddie prepared a detailed letter requesting a network adequacy exception. She documented my need for eight-hour overnight postpartum doula visits, included the relevant diagnoses supporting my request, and asked my insurer to authorize the care at the applicable in-network benefit level because an appropriate in-network provider was not available.

When I eventually obtained the correct submission information from my insurance company, Maddie was ready to help move the request forward.
What meant so much to me was that Maddie treated postpartum support as an important part of my health care. Navigating a high-risk pregnancy while caring for a toddler is already overwhelming, and insurance barriers have added months of administrative work. I have spent much of my pregnancy advocating for myself and trying to coordinate among my insurer, medical providers, and doula care team. Having a nurse willing to advocate alongside me made me feel like I wasn't navigating that system alone.

Maddie's care also has implications beyond my own pregnancy. Because this is a new insurance benefit in Illinois, patients, providers, hospitals, and insurers are still learning how to make it work. Every time a nurse like Maddie takes the time to navigate an unfamiliar process and advocate for a patient, she helps make that pathway a little clearer for the families who come after us.

I am incredibly grateful for Maddie's patience, persistence, and willingness to go beyond what I ever expected from a nurse. She didn't dismiss an unfamiliar request or tell me I had to figure out insurance myself. She recognized that postpartum support was an important part of both my physical and mental health and did everything she could to help me access it.

Maddie demonstrated exactly what compassionate, patient-centered nursing looks like, and I would be honored to see her recognized with a DAISY Award.