MMPO - About us

01 Why mmpo exists

With midwives, since 1997

Established

1997

Members

650+

The MMPO was established by the New Zealand College of Midwives in 1997

We were created to provide its community midwives with a supportive practice management and quality practice system, enabling high quality continuity of care for women throughout New Zealand.

We support the sustainability of midwifery practices and maternity services throughout New Zealand by providing a responsive practice management service, and offering personalised one on one assistance to users of our services to enable community midwives to meet their service, professional and financial commitments.

We also undertake a variety of projects for the profession, health service providers, the Ministry of Health, research organisations and communities that utilise the rich collection of data we manage around the provision of maternity services in New Zealand by midwives.

Claiming with the MMPO

The MMPO have been helping and supporting community midwives for over 20 years, and with this, bring a wealth of experience, knowledge and insights to the profession.

The MMPO is 100% owned by the New Zealand College of Midwives and as a result, its purpose is underpinned by Professional Standards and Quality Assurance. We work within the Ministry of Health Section 88 and the College professional guidelines and quality frameworks.

How can the MMPO help and support you as a Community Midwife in Aotearoa?

Access to Business Focused nation wide workshops on an annual basis
Help set you up on digital technology (Xero - cloud based accounting software) to start in the best possible way, including;

Tailored Xero set up focused on Community Midwifery (Midwifery specific Chart of Accounts)
Set up and automate bank feeds
Retrospective coding and set up of automated bank rules
GST Return Filing and Payments
Reporting (Performance and Cashflow)
Projections

Group Insurance Scheme covering your IT & Midwifery Equipment
National Paging Solution
MIS Care Solution and Support (including Woman's Note’s and Digital Support)
MIS Claiming and Payments (including Section 88 advice)
Data Collection and Integrity (forming the annual Activity and Outcome Database, supporting bench-marking and professional development - COMCORD)
Community Midwifery Application (Referrals, Calendars for you and your practice and a Communication Hub)
Locum Support Service (Rural and Urban)
Free Language Line
Any other help and support

To claim with the MMPO, please complete in full, and submit your online application form by clicking here:

To support your online application, please click on the following links referred to within the online form, 'Claiming with the MMPO':

To join the New Zealand College of Midwives - please click here
To complete the Maternity Services Agreement Application Pack, so that you are able to claim under Section 88 with the MoH - please click here
To complete your obligations relating to the Vulnerable Childrens Act, online via CVCheck - please click here
To complete a Safety Checking Employer Verification Form for Maternity Service Providers, if you are currently employed within a DHB - please click here
To view a copy of the MMPO Agreement - Terms and Conditions of Membership - please click here

02 A partnership that benefits midwives

We work closely with the New Zealand College of Midwives

The MMPO manages the midwifery outcomes database for the New Zealand College of Midwives to ensure midwives can review their work against the standards of the profession and help women choosing midwifery led maternity care achieve high quality outcomes.

All midwifery data obtained through our practice management system is anonymised, aggregated and developed into a series of reports for benchmarking, research and service monitoring. This data is used to provide direction for midwifery practice and maternity service development both nationally and internationally.

03 Brief history

1990

1997

2000

2017

2018

Nurses Amendment Act

The beginning of something great

The Nurses Amendment Act of 1990 opened the door for midwives to practise autonomously in the community. It became clear that midwives working in the community as self-employed Lead Maternity Carers needed a service to collect payment for their work from the Ministry of Health.

Founding of MMPO

MMPO is founded to support community midwives

Originally, MMPO's work was mainly paper-based. Jacqui Anderson, current chair of the MMPO Board, recalled that there were 16 different forms that midwives had to fill out after attending a birth. When she first received boxes of these forms at her home her husband joked that they would have to get a bigger house.

Helping the profession

Say hello to the 'Pink Notes'

The MMPO was instrumental over the years in negotiating with the Ministry of Health to rationalise and reorganise the administrative systems associated with the work of community midwives. One of its great achievements was the setting-up of the ‘pink notes’ system where midwives could obtain from us standardised notes to record each client’s details and the progress of her pregnancy and birth.

Two decades of helping midwives

MMPO turns 20!

As we marked the MMPO’s 20th anniversary in 2017, it is important to note that the organisation has continued to evolve in response to restructuring within the health service, changes in political philosophies influencing maternity and to new technology.

Renewed focus

MMPO refocuses on its core mission

Looking to the future we want to use our history as the underlying driving principle in the way we operate. This means things like, welcoming every community midwife and helping and supporting them in any way we can while they are a midwife. Because the MMPO is 100% owned by the College, this commitment is real in all aspects, including financially, as all surpluses made are reinvested back into community midwifery.