Shared labor-Public Private Partnerships for Maternal Health Equity.

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Policy
• Biotechnology

Background:

• The United States experiences a severe maternal health crisis, marked by high mortality rates and significant disparities for Black, Indigenous, and rural women.
• Medicaid funds over 40% of US births, but fiscal pressures and resistance to benefit expansion limit the adoption of new maternal health interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the potential and challenges of FemTech innovations for improving maternal health equity in Medicaid.
• To propose a policy framework for integrating these innovations effectively within Medicaid.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of FemTech innovations (virtual doula care, remote patient monitoring, AI risk assessment) and their structural barriers to Medicaid adoption.
• Examination of public-private partnerships (PPPs) as a model for value-based maternal health interventions.

Main Results:

• Innovation failures in maternal health are attributed to misaligned incentives rather than technological limitations.
• Outcome-indexed PPPs offer a viable strategy for advancing maternal health equity under fiscal constraints.

Conclusions:

• A coordinated policy framework aligning ARPA-H, CMS Transforming Maternal Health Model, and Medicaid waivers is proposed.
• This framework supports disciplined experimentation, evaluation, and scalable deployment of equity-focused technologies to safeguard maternal health gains.