Maternity care experts develop prenatal care delivery recommendations

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists partnered with the University of Michigan to convene a panel of maternity care experts to determine new prenatal care delivery recommendations. Based on emerging evidence and experience, including significant changes in prenatal care delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic, these recommendations are published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Women's Health.

The recommendations were developed by a diverse panel of maternity care, public health, pediatrics, and equity experts, in addition to two patient representatives from across the country to review prenatal care delivery for medically average-risk patients.

Alex Friedman Peahl, MD, from the University of Michigan, and coauthors, state that "These flexible recommendations can be enacted through any care delivery model: traditional individual visits, group prenatal care, or pregnancy medical homes; any maternity care provider: physicians, midwives, nurse practitioners, or physician assistants; and any practice setting: those with high or low resources." The new model of prenatal care delivery "represents a paradigm shift in prenatal care delivery, replacing a one-size-fits-none model that has been associated with overutilization of low-value care and under-utilization of high-value services."

Peahl et al. present an outline of the new Michigan Plan for Appropriate Tailored Healthcare in pregnancy (MiPATH), and they provide practical guidance on how to implement these new recommendations in routine practice."

Susan G. Kornstein, MD, Journal of Women's Health Editor-in-Chief, Executive Director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women's Health, Richmond, VA