The market for maternal healthcare offers providers, payors and investors an opportunity to address pressing social needs while unlocking business growth and expansion. U.S. maternal mortality remains unacceptably high while the maternal health ecosystem is fragmented across prenatal, perinatal and postpartum care, with particular deficits in behavioral health, cardiometabolic risk management and fourth-trimester support.
But these gaps can be closed through the availability of scalable care models that integrate medical, behavioral and social determinants of health, leveraging technology to extend reach, and demonstrating measurable improvements in outcomes and total cost of care.
Market Drivers
Stakeholders are increasingly focused on integrated, data-driven models that close gaps in access, coordination and quality. For healthcare providers, payors and investors, the sector offers a rare opportunity to align social impact with financial performance. With digital health platforms maturing, investors building scalable provider and service platforms, and payors advancing value-based arrangements tied to measurable outcomes, the opportunity in maternal health is both broad and actionable.
Platforms that reduce avoidable C‑sections, NICU admissions, hypertensive disorders and depression-related complications are best positioned for value-based contracting and employer adoption. Companies such as Pomelo Care and Poppy Seed Health offering longitudinal clinical support across prenatal, neonatal, pediatric and postpartum phases, exemplify this trend.
Other companies such as Almavie and Partum Health provide a broad range of services to help address a variety of physical, emotional and logistical needs in postpartum care. Taking an all-encompassing approach, these companies offer lactation support, physical and mental therapy, and newborn care. This holistic model of maternal health increases consumer access and can demonstrate strong consumer demand for coordinated, premium postpartum services, including out-of-pocket offerings, while also attracting employers and investors interested in saleable, outcomes-informed care models. Success in this core delivery model may inform employer benefit design and, over time, payor contracting approaches trends that encourage holistic care.
Investor-backed women’s health platforms such as Babyscripts, Oula Health and Maven Clinic also have attracted significant investment, demonstrating the growing interest in scalable maternal health solutions. These companies leverage technology and dynamic care models to improve outcomes and expand access.
Hospitals, health systems and start-ups also are also interested in improving health outcomes and evolving the traditional healthcare provider landscape. Companies such as Nyoo Health are working to align and engage stakeholders around initiatives that strengthen services and position their organizations at the forefront of care delivery. This convergence of mission, data and economics primes the market for sustained opportunity and change.
Digital Health: From Point Solutions to Integrated Platforms
Digital and telehealth companies continue to reshape maternal care delivery. Virtual prenatal and postpartum visits expand access and, when paired with remote monitoring of blood pressure, glucose and weight, can support early intervention for conditions such as preeclampsia and gestational diabetes. As point solutions consolidate into integrated platforms, investors should prioritize interoperability, evidence of outcomes improvement and payor-aligned economics.
At the same time, companies must carefully monitor compliance with privacy and security requirements, information blocking rules, evolving FDA oversight and emerging state privacy and data regimes as they scale. As maternal health platforms expand beyond navigation and education into direct clinical services, attention to scope-or-practice rules, corporate practice of medicine doctrines and state-specific licensure requirements becomes essential. Hybrid models that employ or contract with midwives, nurses, lactation consultants and behavioral health clinicians must align entity structure, supervision and financial arrangements fees with applicable state laws. Scalable success often depends not on avoiding regulation but on designing compliant clinical and business structures that can be replicated across jurisdictions.
Data, AI and Ethical Deployment
Data interoperability and ethical AI are now key competitive differentiators. Leading platforms emphasize transparent model development, continuous bias testing and human-in-the-loop safeguards. Data minimization, purpose limitation and granular consent management are becoming mandatory under evolving privacy regimes and increasingly expected by patients and payors alike. From a diligence perspective, the key question is not whether AI is used, but whether governance structures exist to manage updates, validation and regulatory alignment as products evolve. Platforms that pair innovation with disciplined algorithmic oversight are best positioned to scale responsibly.
Payor Evolution and Value-Based Care
Commercial and Medicaid payors are advancing payment models that reward quality, equity and cost-management. Payment models covering full services from conception through postpartum increasingly tie reimbursement to reductions in complications, preventable readmissions and NICU utilization. Medicaid reforms — including extended postpartum coverage and whole-person care models — are accelerating investment in midwifery integration, behavioral health and community-based services. Platforms that focus on improvements in quality and results and lower costs open pathways to shared savings and premium dollar capture. To capitalize, companies must align clinical protocols with quality metrics, produce robust real-world evidence and deliver transparent reporting that satisfies actuarial review.
Platforms poised for success share a common DNA: integrated care models, technology-enabled workflows, multidisciplinary teams and payor-aligned economics. Priority opportunity areas include remote monitoring tied to hypertension and diabetes pathways; postpartum care coordination with embedded behavioral health; lactation and newborn support to reduce readmissions; midwifery integration in hospital and community settings; and analytics-driven navigation for high-risk pregnancies. Companies that connect these components into closed-loop care journeys and rigorously document outcomes will set the standard for value-based maternal health.
Employer Channel and Workforce Health
Employers increasingly view maternal health as a core component of benefits strategy, retention, and diversity, equity, and inclusion objectives. Comprehensive offerings spanning fertility coverage, virtual care, behavioral health, lactation support and return-to-work programs can reduce absenteeism, enhance employee satisfaction and productivity and lower healthcare costs. Platforms that integrate seamlessly into benefits ecosystems and demonstrate return on investment through claims reduction, employee engagement and improved outcomes will find strong demand in the self-insured market.
Provider Enablement and MSO Opportunities
A significant share of women’s health care remains delivered in independent practice settings. Management services organizations (MSO) that standardize operations, deploy technology, optimize revenue cycle and embed quality programs can unlock operational leverage while improving patient experience and clinical outcomes. Strategic partnerships with hospitals and health systems that translate across markets can extend reach, improve referral alignment and integrate midwifery and postpartum services. Durable growth depends on well-designed governance, compliance infrastructure and data-sharing arrangements.
Regulatory and Reimbursement Landscape
The regulatory environment for maternal health continues to evolve, with meaningful implications for investors. Federal and state initiatives are expanding Medicaid coverage for postpartum care and advancing policies aimed at reducing disparities in outcomes. The federal Transforming Maternal Health Model aims to improve outcomes in Medicaid through whole-person care and quality incentives. Congruently, Medicaid coverage of postpartum care has been extended to 12 months in most states, and many state Medicaid initiatives are expanding access to midwifery, behavioral health and community-based support. Legislative activity related to women’s and maternal health has also accelerated, sharpening and reinforcing maternal health as a workplace issue. The PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act, enacted in 2022, and updates to the Illinois Nursing Mothers in the Workplace Act, effective in January 2026, are examples of sharpening employer obligations around lactation time and space.
Beyond the regulatory landscape, reimbursement mechanics in maternal health materially shape business models and growth opportunities. Under the Affordable Care Act, commercial payers must cover certain preventative services without patient cost sharing, such as screening for gestational diabetes, perinatal depression and lactation support. Medicaid remains the single largest payor for births in the United States.
Professional reimbursement typically follows a global obstetric payment for routine pregnancies, covering prenatal care, delivery and postpartum follow-ups, with separate billing when risk increases, care is transferred or additional services are furnished (e.g., maternal-fetal medicine consults, hypertension or diabetes management, or behavioral health). Facility reimbursement for deliveries is paid under inpatient diagnosis related groupings with tiers reflecting the delivery method and any complications. Payors are expanding reimbursement for midwifery-led models, and many states now reimburse certified nurse-midwives and doulas under Medicaid.
States also are leveraging Medicaid coverage to reimburse community-based perinatal services that address social drivers of health, including community health workers, home visiting, transportation and peer support. Several states have launched maternity episodes or bundles spanning prenatal to postpartum care, with upside and downside risk tied to avoidable C‑sections, readmissions, and NICU utilization. Commercial payors are piloting similar maternity bundles and contracting models with overlays that reward quality and equity.
Digital and hybrid maternal health models often rely on reimbursable care management and patient monitoring through remote technology. Remote physiologic monitoring and remote therapeutic monitoring codes support home blood pressure and glucose tracking for hypertensive disorders and gestational diabetes, with separate reimbursement for device supply and for clinical time.
Payors increasingly reimburse lactation consultations (including tele-lactation), donor milk in specific clinical contexts, and hospital-based lactation programs tied to reductions in readmissions and NICU utilization. Value-based maternity bundles often include quality measures related to breastfeeding initiation, continuation, and informed feeding choice documentation.
Risk management in this environment should address advertising and educational content oversight, adverse event reporting, state privacy restrictions related to reproductive and infant health data, and contracting considerations with hospitals, payors, and public agencies. Together, evolving privacy standards and quality metrics are incentivizing providers and payors to invest in high-quality, cost-effective maternal care. Investors should closely monitor legislative developments, reimbursement trends, and accreditation standards to identify opportunities and mitigate risks.
These legal and policy shifts present opportunity for alignment between mission driven maternal health interventions and scalable models ripe for investment to increase access and improve quality. The most investable themes concentrate on scalable, evidence-based platforms with reimbursement imperatives. Lactation and formula services offer opportunities for DME distribution and subscription models for pumps or supplies. Risk stratified prenatal and postpartum programs with remote monitoring paired with care navigation can assist in reaching payor quality benchmarks. Management services that consolidate OBGYN practices can deploy technology and operationalize programs focusing on quality and scale. Across these domains, differentiation increasingly turns on demonstrable outcomes, privacy and security readiness, and payor-aligned economics. The policy environment is reducing reimbursement volatility, paving the way for scale.
Transaction Considerations and Execution
From a transaction perspective, diligence should extend beyond financial performance to assess clinical governance, patient engagement, provider performance, payor contracts, quality metrics, and compliance maturity. Key value-creation levers include scaling value-based contracts, expanding employer channel distribution, strengthening hospital partnerships, and integrating ancillary services such as behavioral health and lactation. Growth plans should invest in credentialed clinical leadership, codified care pathways, and evidence generation capabilities. A disciplined approach to reimbursement integrity, privacy and security controls, and algorithmic governance is essential to preserving enterprise value during scale-up and exit.
Outlook
The maternal health sector presents a compelling investment opportunity driven by urgent market needs, evolving care models, and the potential for both social impact and financial returns. Over the next few years, maternal health is expected to transition from a collection of point-solutions into a defined healthcare services and technology vertical. Capital is likely to concentrate around platforms that demonstrate longitudinal engagement, credible outcomes data, and durable alignment, particularly those integrating postpartum care, behavioral health and chronic condition management.
As quality metrics standardize and value-based models mature, scale advantages and regulatory readiness will increasingly differentiate market leaders. Investors, providers and payors that prioritize integrated, patient-centric, and evidence-based solutions will be well-positioned to lead in this essential and rapidly evolving market.
For more information on investment opportunities in maternal health, or to discuss potential partnerships, please contact our team.
For additional insights on women’s healthcare topics, refer to the following alerts:
Unlocking Opportunities at the Intersection of Women’s Health, Wellness and Medical Aesthetics (Sept. 24, 2025)
The Next Frontier: Navigating the Menopause and Midlife Women’s Health Market (Sept. 15, 2025)
The Fertility Economy: Where Science Meets Market Demand (Sept. 4, 2025)
From Delivery to Recovery: Unlocking Value in Postpartum Health (Aug. 27, 2025)
Frontiers in Women’s Health: Where Investor Opportunities Meet Unmet Need (Aug. 19, 2025)