Overview
Maternity care is the most common and most costly hospitalization for both commercial and Medicaid health plans. Despite spending far more than every other country on maternity care, the United States ranks behind most peer countries on key maternal and infant outcomes, including mortality and preterm birth. Analyses of maternity care spending show that the key drivers of cost are hospital fees, cesarean delivery, and neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) stays. In the current payment environment, there are few incentives to rein in these costs. However, a new era of value-based payment is beginning to unfold, prompting providers, health systems, and payers and think differently – and more collaboratively – about how to organize and deliver maternity care.
The report delves into the below questions:
- How do we know an era of value-based payment is coming to maternity care?
- What changes are already happening?
- What is value in maternity care, anyway?
- How can maternity care providers and health systems prepare for the new payment landscape?
Authors: Maternity Neighborhood
Publication Date: June 2015