How Delfina is stepping up in the wake of the OBBBA.
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Now that the reconciliation bill (the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” or “OBBBA”) has been signed into law, people across the United States are worrying about how these changes will affect their healthcare. As a physician, I share their concern. As the CEO of Delfina, a company solving the maternal health crisis by serving all families - including those covered by Medicaid, I have been working with our partners to proactively mitigate the OBBBA’s adverse impacts on the expecting families we serve.
This bill cuts nearly a trillion dollars in federal Medicaid spending, and is projected to cause over 10 million more people to become uninsured in the next ten years, as estimated by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The OBBBA will make it harder for low-income families and people living in rural areas to afford and access care, and easier for them to be disenrolled from their plans without alternative coverage.
First off, let’s get the facts straight. The OBBBA cuts will not explicitly affect Medicaid eligibility or covered benefits for pregnant patients. Pregnant Americans are exempt from new work and eligibility requirements. There are no explicit changes to covered benefits for pregnant Americans under the OBBBA. Nevertheless, the unintended consequences of the OBBBA cuts will worsen the ongoing US maternal health crisis, creating an urgent need for an efficient, scalable solution to improve outcomes and lower costs.
Work requirements may impact spouses and family members of pregnant patients. If you are pregnant with your first child and your partner is on Medicaid, they could still be impacted by new work requirements, or disenrolled as automatic enrollment halts. Past experiences from Arkansas and Georgia demonstrate that confusing reporting rules and administrative hurdles caused adults and caregivers, notably spouses or partners of pregnant individuals, to lose coverage in practice, regardless of exemptions on paper. Pregnancy can already be a stressful, uncertain time, and the last thing new moms need to worry about is whether their family members will be able to get the healthcare they need.
Preventative and holistic care is at risk. Under the OBBBA, certain states will now institute co-pays up to $35 per visit for Medicaid members. That means services essential to a healthy pregnancy, like mental health therapy, medical nutrition therapy, or visits for chronic condition management may no longer be accessible. As our work in preconception care demonstrates, a healthy pregnancy journey begins long before the first prenatal visit - a time when co-pays may now impede access. Previous studies in type 2 diabetes have shown that cost-sharing may drive adverse outcomes and increase the total cost of care. With the OBBBA, these impacts are expected to be multiplied with over 90,000 excess preventable hospitalizations by 2034. Effective care during the preconception period, pregnancy, and postpartum will be limited when care access is limited by red tape, actual cost-sharing, or patient misunderstandings about cost-sharing.
Access will be even more limited for rural communities. We are already experiencing hundreds of labor and delivery units shuttering across the country, creating “maternity care deserts” in states like Texas, Alabama, and Missouri. The OBBBA puts hundreds more at risk, with the reduction in access ultimately increasing the total cost of care from maternal and neonatal complications. The provider tax cuts in this bill will likely lead to even more closures, as providers scramble to fund their maternity wards. While the Senate ultimately added a $50 billion fund for rural hospitals to cushion the blow, studies forecast this fund will cover less than a third of the funding that these already-struggling hospitals stand to lose post-OBBBA.
With the needs for expecting families increasing and maternal health costs expected to spiral post-OBBBA, Delfina is doubling down on serving Medicaid populations. Our platform is designed to serve high-risk patients and deliver same-year savings with improved clinical outcomes. We partner with OBGYNs, federally qualified health centers, and public health departments to deliver our AI-powered maternal care system. Serving in Medicaid means we meet patients where they are with personalized care, and support provider partners without adding to their considerable burden.
Earlier this year, I wrote about Delfina’s commitment to Medicaid. We partner closely with Medicaid plans – not because Medicaid is a perfect system, but because Medicaid today is the cornerstone of maternal health in America. As I have seen firsthand how Medicaid coverage saves lives, I am deeply concerned by the impacts of the OBBBA on public health. The urgency of the maternal health crisis, now compounded by the OBBBA, demands a rapid transformation to a more efficient, proactive, data-driven system of maternal care. The ACOG guidelines on tailored prenatal care, enabled for providers at scale by Delfina’s technology, provide a framework for us to transform care to meet this moment.
At Delfina, we are supercharging our commitment to supporting our Medicaid health plan and provider partners fighting for their patients through these changes. We build systems delivering more efficient, proactive care so that in a tight budgetary environment, our Medicaid plan partners can expect same-year savings from fewer costly complications. We listen closely to frontline clinicians facing burnout and workforce shortages to build software that specifically eases their burdens and enables better care.
Medicaid is foundational to American maternal and child health. Delfina is built for this moment. Join us and our Medicaid partners in our fight for moms and babies.
How Delfina is stepping up in the wake of the OBBBA.
Now that the reconciliation bill (the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” or “OBBBA”) has been signed into law, people across the United States are worrying about how these changes will affect their healthcare. As a physician, I share their concern. As the CEO of Delfina, a company solving the maternal health crisis by serving all families - including those covered by Medicaid, I have been working with our partners to proactively mitigate the OBBBA’s adverse impacts on the expecting families we serve.
This bill cuts nearly a trillion dollars in federal Medicaid spending, and is projected to cause over 10 million more people to become uninsured in the next ten years, as estimated by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The OBBBA will make it harder for low-income families and people living in rural areas to afford and access care, and easier for them to be disenrolled from their plans without alternative coverage.
First off, let’s get the facts straight. The OBBBA cuts will not explicitly affect Medicaid eligibility or covered benefits for pregnant patients. Pregnant Americans are exempt from new work and eligibility requirements. There are no explicit changes to covered benefits for pregnant Americans under the OBBBA. Nevertheless, the unintended consequences of the OBBBA cuts will worsen the ongoing US maternal health crisis, creating an urgent need for an efficient, scalable solution to improve outcomes and lower costs.
Work requirements may impact spouses and family members of pregnant patients. If you are pregnant with your first child and your partner is on Medicaid, they could still be impacted by new work requirements, or disenrolled as automatic enrollment halts. Past experiences from Arkansas and Georgia demonstrate that confusing reporting rules and administrative hurdles caused adults and caregivers, notably spouses or partners of pregnant individuals, to lose coverage in practice, regardless of exemptions on paper. Pregnancy can already be a stressful, uncertain time, and the last thing new moms need to worry about is whether their family members will be able to get the healthcare they need.
Preventative and holistic care is at risk. Under the OBBBA, certain states will now institute co-pays up to $35 per visit for Medicaid members. That means services essential to a healthy pregnancy, like mental health therapy, medical nutrition therapy, or visits for chronic condition management may no longer be accessible. As our work in preconception care demonstrates, a healthy pregnancy journey begins long before the first prenatal visit - a time when co-pays may now impede access. Previous studies in type 2 diabetes have shown that cost-sharing may drive adverse outcomes and increase the total cost of care. With the OBBBA, these impacts are expected to be multiplied with over 90,000 excess preventable hospitalizations by 2034. Effective care during the preconception period, pregnancy, and postpartum will be limited when care access is limited by red tape, actual cost-sharing, or patient misunderstandings about cost-sharing.
Access will be even more limited for rural communities. We are already experiencing hundreds of labor and delivery units shuttering across the country, creating “maternity care deserts” in states like Texas, Alabama, and Missouri. The OBBBA puts hundreds more at risk, with the reduction in access ultimately increasing the total cost of care from maternal and neonatal complications. The provider tax cuts in this bill will likely lead to even more closures, as providers scramble to fund their maternity wards. While the Senate ultimately added a $50 billion fund for rural hospitals to cushion the blow, studies forecast this fund will cover less than a third of the funding that these already-struggling hospitals stand to lose post-OBBBA.
With the needs for expecting families increasing and maternal health costs expected to spiral post-OBBBA, Delfina is doubling down on serving Medicaid populations. Our platform is designed to serve high-risk patients and deliver same-year savings with improved clinical outcomes. We partner with OBGYNs, federally qualified health centers, and public health departments to deliver our AI-powered maternal care system. Serving in Medicaid means we meet patients where they are with personalized care, and support provider partners without adding to their considerable burden.
Earlier this year, I wrote about Delfina’s commitment to Medicaid. We partner closely with Medicaid plans – not because Medicaid is a perfect system, but because Medicaid today is the cornerstone of maternal health in America. As I have seen firsthand how Medicaid coverage saves lives, I am deeply concerned by the impacts of the OBBBA on public health. The urgency of the maternal health crisis, now compounded by the OBBBA, demands a rapid transformation to a more efficient, proactive, data-driven system of maternal care. The ACOG guidelines on tailored prenatal care, enabled for providers at scale by Delfina’s technology, provide a framework for us to transform care to meet this moment.
At Delfina, we are supercharging our commitment to supporting our Medicaid health plan and provider partners fighting for their patients through these changes. We build systems delivering more efficient, proactive care so that in a tight budgetary environment, our Medicaid plan partners can expect same-year savings from fewer costly complications. We listen closely to frontline clinicians facing burnout and workforce shortages to build software that specifically eases their burdens and enables better care.
Medicaid is foundational to American maternal and child health. Delfina is built for this moment. Join us and our Medicaid partners in our fight for moms and babies.
How Delfina is stepping up in the wake of the OBBBA.
Now that the reconciliation bill (the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” or “OBBBA”) has been signed into law, people across the United States are worrying about how these changes will affect their healthcare. As a physician, I share their concern. As the CEO of Delfina, a company solving the maternal health crisis by serving all families - including those covered by Medicaid, I have been working with our partners to proactively mitigate the OBBBA’s adverse impacts on the expecting families we serve.
This bill cuts nearly a trillion dollars in federal Medicaid spending, and is projected to cause over 10 million more people to become uninsured in the next ten years, as estimated by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The OBBBA will make it harder for low-income families and people living in rural areas to afford and access care, and easier for them to be disenrolled from their plans without alternative coverage.
First off, let’s get the facts straight. The OBBBA cuts will not explicitly affect Medicaid eligibility or covered benefits for pregnant patients. Pregnant Americans are exempt from new work and eligibility requirements. There are no explicit changes to covered benefits for pregnant Americans under the OBBBA. Nevertheless, the unintended consequences of the OBBBA cuts will worsen the ongoing US maternal health crisis, creating an urgent need for an efficient, scalable solution to improve outcomes and lower costs.
Work requirements may impact spouses and family members of pregnant patients. If you are pregnant with your first child and your partner is on Medicaid, they could still be impacted by new work requirements, or disenrolled as automatic enrollment halts. Past experiences from Arkansas and Georgia demonstrate that confusing reporting rules and administrative hurdles caused adults and caregivers, notably spouses or partners of pregnant individuals, to lose coverage in practice, regardless of exemptions on paper. Pregnancy can already be a stressful, uncertain time, and the last thing new moms need to worry about is whether their family members will be able to get the healthcare they need.
Preventative and holistic care is at risk. Under the OBBBA, certain states will now institute co-pays up to $35 per visit for Medicaid members. That means services essential to a healthy pregnancy, like mental health therapy, medical nutrition therapy, or visits for chronic condition management may no longer be accessible. As our work in preconception care demonstrates, a healthy pregnancy journey begins long before the first prenatal visit - a time when co-pays may now impede access. Previous studies in type 2 diabetes have shown that cost-sharing may drive adverse outcomes and increase the total cost of care. With the OBBBA, these impacts are expected to be multiplied with over 90,000 excess preventable hospitalizations by 2034. Effective care during the preconception period, pregnancy, and postpartum will be limited when care access is limited by red tape, actual cost-sharing, or patient misunderstandings about cost-sharing.
Access will be even more limited for rural communities. We are already experiencing hundreds of labor and delivery units shuttering across the country, creating “maternity care deserts” in states like Texas, Alabama, and Missouri. The OBBBA puts hundreds more at risk, with the reduction in access ultimately increasing the total cost of care from maternal and neonatal complications. The provider tax cuts in this bill will likely lead to even more closures, as providers scramble to fund their maternity wards. While the Senate ultimately added a $50 billion fund for rural hospitals to cushion the blow, studies forecast this fund will cover less than a third of the funding that these already-struggling hospitals stand to lose post-OBBBA.
With the needs for expecting families increasing and maternal health costs expected to spiral post-OBBBA, Delfina is doubling down on serving Medicaid populations. Our platform is designed to serve high-risk patients and deliver same-year savings with improved clinical outcomes. We partner with OBGYNs, federally qualified health centers, and public health departments to deliver our AI-powered maternal care system. Serving in Medicaid means we meet patients where they are with personalized care, and support provider partners without adding to their considerable burden.
Earlier this year, I wrote about Delfina’s commitment to Medicaid. We partner closely with Medicaid plans – not because Medicaid is a perfect system, but because Medicaid today is the cornerstone of maternal health in America. As I have seen firsthand how Medicaid coverage saves lives, I am deeply concerned by the impacts of the OBBBA on public health. The urgency of the maternal health crisis, now compounded by the OBBBA, demands a rapid transformation to a more efficient, proactive, data-driven system of maternal care. The ACOG guidelines on tailored prenatal care, enabled for providers at scale by Delfina’s technology, provide a framework for us to transform care to meet this moment.
At Delfina, we are supercharging our commitment to supporting our Medicaid health plan and provider partners fighting for their patients through these changes. We build systems delivering more efficient, proactive care so that in a tight budgetary environment, our Medicaid plan partners can expect same-year savings from fewer costly complications. We listen closely to frontline clinicians facing burnout and workforce shortages to build software that specifically eases their burdens and enables better care.
Medicaid is foundational to American maternal and child health. Delfina is built for this moment. Join us and our Medicaid partners in our fight for moms and babies.
How Delfina is stepping up in the wake of the OBBBA.
Now that the reconciliation bill (the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” or “OBBBA”) has been signed into law, people across the United States are worrying about how these changes will affect their healthcare. As a physician, I share their concern. As the CEO of Delfina, a company solving the maternal health crisis by serving all families - including those covered by Medicaid, I have been working with our partners to proactively mitigate the OBBBA’s adverse impacts on the expecting families we serve.
This bill cuts nearly a trillion dollars in federal Medicaid spending, and is projected to cause over 10 million more people to become uninsured in the next ten years, as estimated by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The OBBBA will make it harder for low-income families and people living in rural areas to afford and access care, and easier for them to be disenrolled from their plans without alternative coverage.
First off, let’s get the facts straight. The OBBBA cuts will not explicitly affect Medicaid eligibility or covered benefits for pregnant patients. Pregnant Americans are exempt from new work and eligibility requirements. There are no explicit changes to covered benefits for pregnant Americans under the OBBBA. Nevertheless, the unintended consequences of the OBBBA cuts will worsen the ongoing US maternal health crisis, creating an urgent need for an efficient, scalable solution to improve outcomes and lower costs.
Work requirements may impact spouses and family members of pregnant patients. If you are pregnant with your first child and your partner is on Medicaid, they could still be impacted by new work requirements, or disenrolled as automatic enrollment halts. Past experiences from Arkansas and Georgia demonstrate that confusing reporting rules and administrative hurdles caused adults and caregivers, notably spouses or partners of pregnant individuals, to lose coverage in practice, regardless of exemptions on paper. Pregnancy can already be a stressful, uncertain time, and the last thing new moms need to worry about is whether their family members will be able to get the healthcare they need.
Preventative and holistic care is at risk. Under the OBBBA, certain states will now institute co-pays up to $35 per visit for Medicaid members. That means services essential to a healthy pregnancy, like mental health therapy, medical nutrition therapy, or visits for chronic condition management may no longer be accessible. As our work in preconception care demonstrates, a healthy pregnancy journey begins long before the first prenatal visit - a time when co-pays may now impede access. Previous studies in type 2 diabetes have shown that cost-sharing may drive adverse outcomes and increase the total cost of care. With the OBBBA, these impacts are expected to be multiplied with over 90,000 excess preventable hospitalizations by 2034. Effective care during the preconception period, pregnancy, and postpartum will be limited when care access is limited by red tape, actual cost-sharing, or patient misunderstandings about cost-sharing.
Access will be even more limited for rural communities. We are already experiencing hundreds of labor and delivery units shuttering across the country, creating “maternity care deserts” in states like Texas, Alabama, and Missouri. The OBBBA puts hundreds more at risk, with the reduction in access ultimately increasing the total cost of care from maternal and neonatal complications. The provider tax cuts in this bill will likely lead to even more closures, as providers scramble to fund their maternity wards. While the Senate ultimately added a $50 billion fund for rural hospitals to cushion the blow, studies forecast this fund will cover less than a third of the funding that these already-struggling hospitals stand to lose post-OBBBA.
With the needs for expecting families increasing and maternal health costs expected to spiral post-OBBBA, Delfina is doubling down on serving Medicaid populations. Our platform is designed to serve high-risk patients and deliver same-year savings with improved clinical outcomes. We partner with OBGYNs, federally qualified health centers, and public health departments to deliver our AI-powered maternal care system. Serving in Medicaid means we meet patients where they are with personalized care, and support provider partners without adding to their considerable burden.
Earlier this year, I wrote about Delfina’s commitment to Medicaid. We partner closely with Medicaid plans – not because Medicaid is a perfect system, but because Medicaid today is the cornerstone of maternal health in America. As I have seen firsthand how Medicaid coverage saves lives, I am deeply concerned by the impacts of the OBBBA on public health. The urgency of the maternal health crisis, now compounded by the OBBBA, demands a rapid transformation to a more efficient, proactive, data-driven system of maternal care. The ACOG guidelines on tailored prenatal care, enabled for providers at scale by Delfina’s technology, provide a framework for us to transform care to meet this moment.
At Delfina, we are supercharging our commitment to supporting our Medicaid health plan and provider partners fighting for their patients through these changes. We build systems delivering more efficient, proactive care so that in a tight budgetary environment, our Medicaid plan partners can expect same-year savings from fewer costly complications. We listen closely to frontline clinicians facing burnout and workforce shortages to build software that specifically eases their burdens and enables better care.
Medicaid is foundational to American maternal and child health. Delfina is built for this moment. Join us and our Medicaid partners in our fight for moms and babies.
How Delfina is stepping up in the wake of the OBBBA.
Now that the reconciliation bill (the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” or “OBBBA”) has been signed into law, people across the United States are worrying about how these changes will affect their healthcare. As a physician, I share their concern. As the CEO of Delfina, a company solving the maternal health crisis by serving all families - including those covered by Medicaid, I have been working with our partners to proactively mitigate the OBBBA’s adverse impacts on the expecting families we serve.
This bill cuts nearly a trillion dollars in federal Medicaid spending, and is projected to cause over 10 million more people to become uninsured in the next ten years, as estimated by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The OBBBA will make it harder for low-income families and people living in rural areas to afford and access care, and easier for them to be disenrolled from their plans without alternative coverage.
First off, let’s get the facts straight. The OBBBA cuts will not explicitly affect Medicaid eligibility or covered benefits for pregnant patients. Pregnant Americans are exempt from new work and eligibility requirements. There are no explicit changes to covered benefits for pregnant Americans under the OBBBA. Nevertheless, the unintended consequences of the OBBBA cuts will worsen the ongoing US maternal health crisis, creating an urgent need for an efficient, scalable solution to improve outcomes and lower costs.
Work requirements may impact spouses and family members of pregnant patients. If you are pregnant with your first child and your partner is on Medicaid, they could still be impacted by new work requirements, or disenrolled as automatic enrollment halts. Past experiences from Arkansas and Georgia demonstrate that confusing reporting rules and administrative hurdles caused adults and caregivers, notably spouses or partners of pregnant individuals, to lose coverage in practice, regardless of exemptions on paper. Pregnancy can already be a stressful, uncertain time, and the last thing new moms need to worry about is whether their family members will be able to get the healthcare they need.
Preventative and holistic care is at risk. Under the OBBBA, certain states will now institute co-pays up to $35 per visit for Medicaid members. That means services essential to a healthy pregnancy, like mental health therapy, medical nutrition therapy, or visits for chronic condition management may no longer be accessible. As our work in preconception care demonstrates, a healthy pregnancy journey begins long before the first prenatal visit - a time when co-pays may now impede access. Previous studies in type 2 diabetes have shown that cost-sharing may drive adverse outcomes and increase the total cost of care. With the OBBBA, these impacts are expected to be multiplied with over 90,000 excess preventable hospitalizations by 2034. Effective care during the preconception period, pregnancy, and postpartum will be limited when care access is limited by red tape, actual cost-sharing, or patient misunderstandings about cost-sharing.
Access will be even more limited for rural communities. We are already experiencing hundreds of labor and delivery units shuttering across the country, creating “maternity care deserts” in states like Texas, Alabama, and Missouri. The OBBBA puts hundreds more at risk, with the reduction in access ultimately increasing the total cost of care from maternal and neonatal complications. The provider tax cuts in this bill will likely lead to even more closures, as providers scramble to fund their maternity wards. While the Senate ultimately added a $50 billion fund for rural hospitals to cushion the blow, studies forecast this fund will cover less than a third of the funding that these already-struggling hospitals stand to lose post-OBBBA.
With the needs for expecting families increasing and maternal health costs expected to spiral post-OBBBA, Delfina is doubling down on serving Medicaid populations. Our platform is designed to serve high-risk patients and deliver same-year savings with improved clinical outcomes. We partner with OBGYNs, federally qualified health centers, and public health departments to deliver our AI-powered maternal care system. Serving in Medicaid means we meet patients where they are with personalized care, and support provider partners without adding to their considerable burden.
Earlier this year, I wrote about Delfina’s commitment to Medicaid. We partner closely with Medicaid plans – not because Medicaid is a perfect system, but because Medicaid today is the cornerstone of maternal health in America. As I have seen firsthand how Medicaid coverage saves lives, I am deeply concerned by the impacts of the OBBBA on public health. The urgency of the maternal health crisis, now compounded by the OBBBA, demands a rapid transformation to a more efficient, proactive, data-driven system of maternal care. The ACOG guidelines on tailored prenatal care, enabled for providers at scale by Delfina’s technology, provide a framework for us to transform care to meet this moment.
At Delfina, we are supercharging our commitment to supporting our Medicaid health plan and provider partners fighting for their patients through these changes. We build systems delivering more efficient, proactive care so that in a tight budgetary environment, our Medicaid plan partners can expect same-year savings from fewer costly complications. We listen closely to frontline clinicians facing burnout and workforce shortages to build software that specifically eases their burdens and enables better care.
Medicaid is foundational to American maternal and child health. Delfina is built for this moment. Join us and our Medicaid partners in our fight for moms and babies.
How Delfina is stepping up in the wake of the OBBBA.
Now that the reconciliation bill (the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” or “OBBBA”) has been signed into law, people across the United States are worrying about how these changes will affect their healthcare. As a physician, I share their concern. As the CEO of Delfina, a company solving the maternal health crisis by serving all families - including those covered by Medicaid, I have been working with our partners to proactively mitigate the OBBBA’s adverse impacts on the expecting families we serve.
This bill cuts nearly a trillion dollars in federal Medicaid spending, and is projected to cause over 10 million more people to become uninsured in the next ten years, as estimated by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The OBBBA will make it harder for low-income families and people living in rural areas to afford and access care, and easier for them to be disenrolled from their plans without alternative coverage.
First off, let’s get the facts straight. The OBBBA cuts will not explicitly affect Medicaid eligibility or covered benefits for pregnant patients. Pregnant Americans are exempt from new work and eligibility requirements. There are no explicit changes to covered benefits for pregnant Americans under the OBBBA. Nevertheless, the unintended consequences of the OBBBA cuts will worsen the ongoing US maternal health crisis, creating an urgent need for an efficient, scalable solution to improve outcomes and lower costs.
Work requirements may impact spouses and family members of pregnant patients. If you are pregnant with your first child and your partner is on Medicaid, they could still be impacted by new work requirements, or disenrolled as automatic enrollment halts. Past experiences from Arkansas and Georgia demonstrate that confusing reporting rules and administrative hurdles caused adults and caregivers, notably spouses or partners of pregnant individuals, to lose coverage in practice, regardless of exemptions on paper. Pregnancy can already be a stressful, uncertain time, and the last thing new moms need to worry about is whether their family members will be able to get the healthcare they need.
Preventative and holistic care is at risk. Under the OBBBA, certain states will now institute co-pays up to $35 per visit for Medicaid members. That means services essential to a healthy pregnancy, like mental health therapy, medical nutrition therapy, or visits for chronic condition management may no longer be accessible. As our work in preconception care demonstrates, a healthy pregnancy journey begins long before the first prenatal visit - a time when co-pays may now impede access. Previous studies in type 2 diabetes have shown that cost-sharing may drive adverse outcomes and increase the total cost of care. With the OBBBA, these impacts are expected to be multiplied with over 90,000 excess preventable hospitalizations by 2034. Effective care during the preconception period, pregnancy, and postpartum will be limited when care access is limited by red tape, actual cost-sharing, or patient misunderstandings about cost-sharing.
Access will be even more limited for rural communities. We are already experiencing hundreds of labor and delivery units shuttering across the country, creating “maternity care deserts” in states like Texas, Alabama, and Missouri. The OBBBA puts hundreds more at risk, with the reduction in access ultimately increasing the total cost of care from maternal and neonatal complications. The provider tax cuts in this bill will likely lead to even more closures, as providers scramble to fund their maternity wards. While the Senate ultimately added a $50 billion fund for rural hospitals to cushion the blow, studies forecast this fund will cover less than a third of the funding that these already-struggling hospitals stand to lose post-OBBBA.
With the needs for expecting families increasing and maternal health costs expected to spiral post-OBBBA, Delfina is doubling down on serving Medicaid populations. Our platform is designed to serve high-risk patients and deliver same-year savings with improved clinical outcomes. We partner with OBGYNs, federally qualified health centers, and public health departments to deliver our AI-powered maternal care system. Serving in Medicaid means we meet patients where they are with personalized care, and support provider partners without adding to their considerable burden.
Earlier this year, I wrote about Delfina’s commitment to Medicaid. We partner closely with Medicaid plans – not because Medicaid is a perfect system, but because Medicaid today is the cornerstone of maternal health in America. As I have seen firsthand how Medicaid coverage saves lives, I am deeply concerned by the impacts of the OBBBA on public health. The urgency of the maternal health crisis, now compounded by the OBBBA, demands a rapid transformation to a more efficient, proactive, data-driven system of maternal care. The ACOG guidelines on tailored prenatal care, enabled for providers at scale by Delfina’s technology, provide a framework for us to transform care to meet this moment.
At Delfina, we are supercharging our commitment to supporting our Medicaid health plan and provider partners fighting for their patients through these changes. We build systems delivering more efficient, proactive care so that in a tight budgetary environment, our Medicaid plan partners can expect same-year savings from fewer costly complications. We listen closely to frontline clinicians facing burnout and workforce shortages to build software that specifically eases their burdens and enables better care.
Medicaid is foundational to American maternal and child health. Delfina is built for this moment. Join us and our Medicaid partners in our fight for moms and babies.
How Delfina is stepping up in the wake of the OBBBA.
