In Pursuit of Value-Based Maternity Care

Value-based care has become the new paradigm for clinical practice, with significant implications for maternity services, where there is a large opportunity to provide better care at lower cost. Childbirth is the most common reason for hospitalization in the United States and represents the single largest category of hospital-based expenditures. At the same time, the United States ranks low among developed countries on measures of maternal and neonatal health, suggesting that we are not using resources optimally. Improving the value of maternity services will require public policies that measure and pay for quality rather than quantity of care. Equally important, clinicians will need to employ new strategies to deliver value, including considering prices, individualizing the use of new technologies, prioritizing team-based approaches to care, bridging pregnancy and contraception counseling, and engaging expecting families in new ways.