Health insurance providers are implementing innovative programs that capitalize on telehealth and partnerships with innovative technology companies to better engage their pregnant members and help ensure they are receiving the care they need, when and where they need it.
Despite ongoing efforts to address the maternal mortality crisis in the United States, recent evidence from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention鈥檚 (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics showed an 18% increase in maternal mortality in the U.S. from 2019 to 2020. These worsening outcomes include worsening disparities, as Black and indigenous people who give birth are two to three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white people. Integrating telehealth and other technologies into perinatal and maternal health care can help bridge the gaps in access to obstetric care in rural and underserved communities, leading to better maternal outcomes. Access to care becomes especially relevant during health emergencies, like the COVID-19 pandemic when many Americans had to find new ways to get care.