Reflections from ACOG 2025
ACOG 2025 was a call to action for maternal health | 3 min read
Introduction
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG)’s 2025 meeting was a call to action for maternal health.
ACOG’s annual meeting was held in Minneapolis on May 16-18, 2025.
Just 1 month before the meeting, ACOG released new guidance that completely shifts the standard of prenatal care. Care that’s centered on the patient’s values and realities, catches risks before they turn into crisis, and builds trust.
The current state of U.S. healthcare stills stings:
- More than 80% of maternal deaths are preventable.
- Top causes include mental health, cardiac issues, and hemorrhage.
- Black women are 3-4X more likely to die than white women.
- 50% of deaths happen up to 1 year AFTER birth.
ACOG’s conference brought it all–a new framework, bold ideas, leaders, and real tools to change this story.
The experience gave me clarity and new energy for where maternity care is headed. In my post-meeting reflection, I cover:
Early tips for bringing ACOG’s new prenatal care guidance to life
Provider trainings + community resources that can help expand what OBs offer.
Models that meet moms where they are–like group prenatal care.
Why tech-enabled solutions are the key to driving this vision forward, faster.
An example of what real systems change looks like–when we confront racism and build care rooted in trust and respect.
Every mom deserves care that’s built around her—not around the system.
Getting started
“All she’s going to do is check my heart beat. I don’t want to waste gas for a 10-minute visit.” - Patient
“I can’t add one more thing. I already have too much to cover in one visit.” - Provider
This feedback from ACOG’s listening tour shaped something big: a new framework to redesign prenatal care.
Here’s the current state of maternal health in the U.S.:
1 in 4 patients miss appointments in the 1st trimester
Less than half get timely, recommended services
Rushed OB visits lead to poor patient experiences
ACOG’s new model centers on a patient’s values and realities. Members of ACOG’s Clinical Consensus Committee—Dr. Alex Peahl (University of Michican), Dr. Julia Phillippi (Vanderbilt), and Dr. Mark Turrentine (Baylor College of Medicine)—shared the evidence and process behind the model.
They also shared tools for getting started:
Practice leaders: Simulation tools to model operational and $$ impact.
OBs + care teams: Validated SDOH screeners (SIREN, ACOG #11, PICQ) and resource connection strategies.
IT + ops staff: EHR templates and scripts.
Here’s what’s still needed to move the system forward:
Shared ownership–across practices, payers, tech and community.
More tools for real-world implementation (coming soon on ACOG's website).
Data and best practices from early adopters.
A shift from global OB codes to visit-based billing (ACOG driving this ahead of 2027 code updates).
We can’t let this gift sit on a shelf. It’s time to come together and build what’s best for patients.
Provider training + community resources
“It’s unethical to screen if you have nothing to offer.”
“I don’t know local resources–I wouldn’t know where to send someone.”
These are real (and valid) concerns from OBs. But it’s also not right to let risk grow into crisis.
ACOG’s new prenatal care guidance raises the bar. It also asks more of providers:
Screen earlier for mental health and social needs
Refer and follow-up on support services
Build those risks into personalized care plans
But none of this works if OB teams are already stretched.
That’s where Postpartum Support International and MNPQC- Minnesota Perinatal Quality Collaborative come in. They’re practical partners, ready to expand what OBs offer. Not add to the load.
PSI is the leading non-profit for perinatal mental health:
PMH-C Certification for providers: Empowers providers to confidently screen, treat, and manage mental health needs.
Screening tools: Downloadable, evidence-based tools including EPDS, PHQ-9, GAD-7, PASS, and MDQ.
Psychiatric consult line: Real-time answers for prescribers from perinatal psychiatry experts.
Referrals to support services: 50+ virtual support groups, postpartum planning classes, and local coordinators
Provider directory: Easy-to-search list of certified perinatal mental health providers across the country.
MNPQC is a statewide collaborative advancing perinatal care and equity:
Quality Improvement programs: Collaborative efforts that tackle mental health, SUDs, hypertension, and more
Minnesota resource map to connect patients with trusted local support
Here’s where you can learn more about these organizations :
PSI’s annual conference and PMH-C training (July 10-13, New Orleans)
MNPQC’s Perinatal Improvement Summit (October 28, Minneapolis)
PSI and MNPQC aren’t replacements. They're trusted extensions of care that help OBs deliver whole-person care every mom deserves
Great to meet Evon Inyang and Candice Wood (PSI) and Cassie Mohawk and Ella Krispin (MNPQC) on the exhibitor floor.
Group prenatal care
“It provides the quality of care that’s just not possible in a rushed, 5 minute visit.” -OB provider
ACOG’s new prenatal care guidance calls for shared decision-making.
Enter…Group prenatal care. One of the most exciting models I saw at ACOG 2025.
Instead of short 1:1 OB visits, moms join small groups with similar due dates to:
Share support and stories
Build skills for pregnancy, birth, and parenting
Take their own vitals
Spend real time (up to 2 hours) with their care team
It shifts the power back, especially to underserved moms–giving them more ownership, voice, and trust in the care system.
And it works:
Lower preterm birth + ED rates, higher breastfeeding + postpartum care engagement
Fewer missed visits
Greater patient satisfaction and confidence
Streamlines clinic ops and better quality
Here are two national leaders making this happen:
Centering Pregnancy at Centering Healthcare Institute: In 500+ sites.
Supportive Pregnancy Care at March of Dimes: Active across the U.S., including standout programs in PA (Penn Family Care in Philadelphia) and VA (Riverside Health System in Newport News)
And here’s what’s still needed to bring this model to more moms:
📣 Patients: Ask your provider if they offer group care (linked below).
📣 Practices in MI, TX, MD: Apply for a Centering Pregnancy grant
📣 Policymakers + advocates: Expand Medicaid coverage (currently only reimbursed in 10 states) https://lnkd.in/gijfUxFM
Moms deserve to feel empowered, respected, and ready. Care improves when patients and providers work together.
Great to meet Corie Cloutier, Associate Director of Professional Education (March of Dimes) and Mary Fitzmaurice, Director of Business Development (Centering Healthcare Institute) on ACOG’s exhibitor floor.
Tech-enabled care
80% of maternal death risk stems from social factors–like housing, food, transportation, and trust.
And too often, we react with bandaids: Adjust meds. Add visits. Catch up when it’s already too late.
But that doesn’t fix the root cause.
ACOG’s new prenatal care guidance promotes a wraparound model that meets ALL moms where they are.
And tech can power this shift:
- Early risk screening + personalized care plans
- Remote patient monitoring
- Real connections to mental health support, doulas, feeding specialists, and social services
At ACOG 2025, I was most excited about these solutions and community connectors:
SimpliFed: Feeding support + virtual maternal care, all from home.
Delfina: AI-powered whole-person care built for early risk detection.
FamilyWell Health: Behavioral health + coaching to extend OB support.
The Lactation Network: On-demand lactation care, starting in pregnancy.
Pario Health: OB-specific EMR simplifying care coordination.
These tools give OBs more time, moms more trust and power, and systems way more reach.
To take this all to the next level, we need:
📣 Interoperable tech that plugs into the existing system (not replaces)
📣 Shared wins and learnings that others can build from
📣 Payment for coordination, virtual care, and RPM
📣 Data-sharing across tech, payers, and providers to tell the full ROI story: that prevention saves lives, cuts cost, and builds trust with patients
Tech isn’t extra. It’s the infrastructure to scale, catch, and prevent risk early–BEFORE it turns into crisis.
Great meeting and re-connecting with: Andrea Ippolito and Mary Hardy (SimpliFed), Jess Gaulton and Nicolle Wells-O’Connor (FamilyWell), Senan Ebrahim (Delfina), Leah Tribus (The Lactation Network), and Maggie Diehl (Pario).
The clinic getting it right
“Black women don’t feel pain.”
Yes, this perception still exists in modern maternity care. And it costs lives.
Black women are 3-4X more likely to die during or after birth than white women. 80% of these deaths are preventable.
ACOG’s new prenatal care guidance gives us a better way forward. But only if we’re honest about how we got here.
At ACOG 2025, Dr. Courtney Townsel (University of Maryland Baltimore) and D’Angela Pitts (Henry Ford Hospital) broke that down in their session Unpacking Obstetric Racism and Innovative Solutions to Reduce Health Inequities. They opened with a history lesson on how racism shaped maternal health inequities.
Then, Dr. Pitts showed us what better looks like at Henry Ford Health:
The Cocoon model for whole-person care (early SDOH screening, doulas, nurse navigators, and closing referral loops).
Patient education on warning signs and self-advocacy
Expanded access with more visits, group care, and birth center pilots
Mobile units bringing postpartum care to community
Real community voice in care design (in task forces, town halls, maternal mortality review boards)
Here’s what we need now:
📣 Reimburse what works (doulas, navigators, group care).
📣 Require real bias and equity training. Not once but ideally every year.
📣 Put community at the center of design.
📣 Share what’s working, to build trust and shift systems forward.
Every mom deserves reliable, respectful care. Detroit just raised the bar and showed us how to operationalize equity. Let’s follow their lead.
Where do we go from here?
Coming soon….
