Disruptive Innovation in Maternity Care in the United States. If not now, when?

TIMELY TOPIC BREAKOUT

DATE: Sunday, November 10th
TIME: 10:15 am - 11:15 am
FACULTY: Dele Ogunleye, MD, FACOG

The United States is the highest spender on obstetric care per capita in the world. Yet we have some of the worst outcomes. As regards both maternal and infant outcomes we are one of the few countries that the World Health Organization has noted is trending in the wrong direction. Our maternal mortality rate is the worst of any OECD country and March of Dimes just downgraded the U.S. to a D+. All major medical organizations highlight the maternal morbidity and mortality crisis, but we are very slow to change course.

For anything to change it will take uncomfortable questions to be asked about our current healthcare paradigm. The current maternal care model is different from many other countries that have better rates. Our system is heavily dependent on obstetricians and has too few midwives. According to the latest evidence, most childbearing women in the United States are at low medical risk, suggesting that the health care delivery system should reliably provide access to integrated, evidence-based, Level 1 care. Rather than having access to family-centered, home-like environments, it is well known that the predominant model of labor and delivery in the United States resembles “an intensive care unit”. In 2016, the conversation regarding “risk-appropriate” care has been largely predominated by the appropriate care for high-risk women. The lack of risk-appropriate care for the majority of childbearing women, who are at low medical risk, is not well appreciated.

Disruptive Innovation in Maternity care must happen now, and it is not surprising that large organizations have started calling on increased access to non-hospital delivery options like is standard in other medical fields.

We can’t expect different results if we don’t change what we are doing.

In this session, we'll examine how other countries achieve better results, the role of risk-appropriate care, and big ideas needed to transform maternity care in the U.S.

Faculty