Get Well’s Maternal Health Solution enables health systems to align with and act on ACOG’s full set of recommendations

In Spring 2025, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) released new clinical guidance regarding prenatal care delivery. This guidance moves away from the nearly century-old standard of a uniform 12-14 in-person visit model for all birthing persons, regardless of their background. The guidance urges healthcare to move towards personalized prenatal care based on individual risk factors, social determinants of health (SDOH) needs and patient preferences.

“Given the alarming inequities in the maternal health space, this [ACOG’s recommendations] is a step in the right direction, promoting more equitable care by focusing more upstream—on the factors that are playing a role in these inequities and that we can impact,” said Kailin Lieu, M.D., Senior Director of Ambulatory and Clinical Programs, Get Well.

“Alarming” is no overstatement—new data shows not only have things been moving in the wrong direction, it’s been happening at a fevered pace. In fact, an April 2025 report revealed the maternal death rate in the U.S. increased by nearly 28% from 2018 to 2022. On top of that, the U.S. continues to hold steady in the #1 position when it comes to the highest maternal mortality rate among developed nations.

What’s Going On?

There are many factors at play, including racial and ethnic disparities as a result of systemic inequalities that are driven by racism and discrimination. The lack of access to care has been an outcome of this.

1. Almost one in four pregnant women don’t go to their first prenatal care visit until after the first trimester, and
2. Almost half do not receive all recommended services on time

Of course, nearly every pregnant woman wants quality care—but for far too many, serious barriers stand in the way of accessing it. Imagine what might need to happen to make it to just one prenatal appointment:

1. Taking off work without pay, and you make minimum wage (current federal minimum wage is $7.25/hour)
2. Paying someone to babysit your other child; relatives/friends work and can’t help you out (2022 average national rate is $22.68/hour)
3. Walking or taking multiple buses to get where you need to go
4. Doing all this, while dealing with food insecurity, threat of eviction or another stressor

In this scenario, consider the costs the mother would need to shoulder:

• Nearly $90 per in-person visit (in 3 hours lost wages/babysitting; transportation not included)
• $1,260 to attend 14 visits
• This is slightly over 8% of a full-time minimum wage worker’s annual income—and remember, this is before the baby even arrives

ACOG’s Guidance Recognizes These Pressures

ACOG’s guidance recognizes that when SDOH pressures mount, even making it to a single in-person appointment can be out of reach. The guidance calls for healthcare and providers to:

• Stratify expecting mothers into low or high risk to better inform care delivery.
• Offer varied care modalities based on risk, with more virtual care for low-risk mothers and remote monitoring complementing more in-person visits for high-risk mothers.
• Screen for social determinants of health (SDOH) issues before 10 weeks of pregnancy.

Enabling ACOG’s Guidance with Digital Engagement

Get Well’s Maternal Health program is uniquely positioned to empower health systems and hospitals in adopting ACOG’s tailored prenatal care guidance. 

“Our solution is designed as a support system that extends the care team, providing the digital infrastructure and human support necessary to implement this paradigm shift,” says Dr. Lieu. “It effectively manages non-medical aspects of care and escalates any medical concerns that surface, allowing clinical staff to focus on medical needs. We can enable health systems to meet ACOG’s new recommendations.”

The Maternal Health Program aligns with ACOG’s vision and can be tailored to low and high risk mothers through the following:

1. Enabling Risk Stratification and Tailored Care Delivery: The Maternal Health platform performs comprehensive needs assessment and ongoing risk assessment crucial for ACOG’s model. It incorporates these components:

• Symptom Checkers: For low-risk patients, checkers help identify symptoms that might indicate rising risk, while for high-risk patients, they allow for crucial monitoring to ensure timely intervention. This means any changes in a patient’s condition warranting an in-person visit are identified promptly, regardless of their initial risk category or visit frequency.
• Ability to Message the Care Team: The solution provides a direct, secure channel for mothers to communicate with their care team. This fosters trust and enables early identification of rising risk.

2. Addressing Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) Needs: A critical aspect of the ACOG guidance is early and ongoing SDOH screening and intervention. Get Well helps healthcare organizations in achieving this by:

• Embedding SDOH screening mechanisms early in pregnancy and at a regular cadence, to address needs that can change.
• Facilitating connection to community resources when they are most needed. SDOH-related issues that happen during the prenatal period have been shown to significantly impact maternal health and birth outcomes. Get Well helps patients access these critical resources in real-time.
• Offering live Navigators. Get Well Navigators assist patients with non-clinical needs like finding food bank support, child and elder care resources, referrals to transportation and medication affordability resources, and other non-medical needs that impact maternal health outcomes. 

3. Comprehensive, Longitudinal Support and Proven Outcomes: Get Well’s Maternal Health Solution directly aligns with ACOG’s guidance by supporting the birthing person’s entire journey, including:

• Longitudinal care plans and personalized education that support expecting mothers before, during and after delivery.
• Remote monitoring for both medical and non-medical needs, including mental health, ensuring oversight even outside of in-person visits.

4. Follow-Up: Examples of follow-up provided to an expectant mother include, “Were you able to find a maternity provider from the number I sent you?” Also, “Did you find the resources that we sent you helpful?” And if not, “Sorry the resources didn’t help you. Please text back if you would like help finding another resource and tell us more about your needs.”

ACOG’s updated guidance marks a crucial turning point, shifting prenatal care towards a personalized model by stratifying birthing persons into risk categories. This new framework directly addresses the systemic barriers contributing to unacceptable maternal health outcomes. Get Well’s Maternal Health solution is purpose-built to enable health systems to implement these recommendations, providing the digital infrastructure and human support necessary to deliver tailored care, address SDOH issues and ensure continuous, proactive engagement throughout the entire maternal journey.

Learn more about how our Maternal Health Solution has shown tangible improvements in maternal and infant health outcomes LifeBridge Health.