Collab to Expand Medicaid Access to Virtual Maternal-Fetal Healthcare

March 21, 2023 - MedArrive is partnering with Ouma Health, a maternity-focused telehealth services provider, to expand access to maternal-fetal healthcare among Medicaid beneficiaries in their homes.

MedArrive connects patients to in-home care through a network of field providers and telemedicine. The company works with healthcare provider organizations and payers to provide access to paramedics, emergency medical technicians, and other healthcare professionals who visit patients' homes.

The care teams offer various services, including diagnostics and health assessments, and help address social determinants of health (SDoH) needs like transportation and nutrition. They also connect patients with physicians via telehealth if higher acuity or specialty care is required.

MedArrive has forged various telehealth partnerships to bolster the services it provides. Last year, it joined forces with Brave Health to offer virtual behavioral healthcare services to Medicaid patients.  

The partnership with Ouma Health enables Medicaid beneficiaries to access various maternal-fetal health services virtually, such as prenatal and postpartum care, behavioral health screenings and counseling, chronic care management and remote patient monitoring, and lactation support.

"Ouma gives our platform the power to improve the health of one of the most important populations in America, mothers and newborns, and represents a natural extension of our specialty care support," said Dan Trigub, co-founder and CEO of MedArrive, in the press release. "With proven health outcomes already delivered by both organizations, we are excited about our joint opportunity to give healthcare organizations – and especially managed Medicaid plans – the ability to address the maternal health crisis in America while also reducing their costs."

Ouma also provides virtual access to maternal-fetal medicine physicians, midwives, and perinatal nurse navigators, who can diagnose and prescribe medications across the 50 states. The company works with self-funded employers and Medicaid health plans nationwide.

"The partnership with MedArrive allows us to jointly offer a hybrid care model that reaches into the patient's home, removes the burden of taking time off, finding childcare, or absorbing the cost of transportation to see a maternity specialist," said Sina Haeri, co-founder and CEO of Ouma Health, in the press release. "This, in turn, leads to improved compliance, a real life examination of SDoH, and a return to trustworthy relationship medicine, especially for the most vulnerable members of our communities who often feel neglected by health systems."

In America, maternal mortality rates are worsening. New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that the US maternal mortality rate jumped to 32.9 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2021, compared with 23.8 in 2020 and 20.1 in 2019.

These figures rose even higher among women of color, with Black women experiencing a maternal mortality rate 2.6 times higher than White women.

Expanding maternal care access to Medicaid beneficiaries can help address these rising maternal death rates, as Medicaid pays for 42 percent of all births in the country. The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 included a provision allowing states to extend Medicaid postpartum coverage to 12 months from two months. This has the potential to boost maternal and infant outcomes, as more than half of pregnancy-related deaths occur postpartum, and the infant mortality rate within the Medicaid population is higher than that of the private insurance population.

Twenty-nine states, including the District of Columbia, have implemented the 12-month extension, with nine states planning to implement it, data from the Kaiser Family Foundation shows.

One such state is Michigan, which received approval for its request to extend postpartum Medicaid coverage last May. The state announced in January that it was also providing Medicaid-eligible families access to the Philips Pregnancy+ mobile application. The app offers information on fetal growth and personalized support, including 3D-animated models of the fetus.