A conversation with Meghan Doyle, CEO, Partum Health and Melissa Dennis, OB/GYN, chief medical officer, Partum Health, about 24/7 doula care at UChicago Medicine

Patients at the University of Chicago Medicine Family Birth Center now have access to 24/7 doula care, thanks to their recent partnership with Partum Health, a reproductive healthcare startup.

The care is often available at no extra cost to patients because many insurance providers in Illinois reimburse patients for doula care as of December 2024, when the state became one of the 26 states to provide Medicaid coverage for doula services.

Partum is the first company to offer 24/7 care in a hospital setting.

Meghan Doyle, CEO of Partum Health and Melissa Dennis, OBGYN and chief medical officer, Partum Health recently spoke with Managed Healthcare Executive about the partnership and how it speaks to the growing interest in doula support in the United States.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

MHE: How do doulas differ from midwives and doctors?

Dennis: Doulas provide essential emotional, physical and educational support to patients during the birthing process. This can start during the prenatal care period and extend through labor and delivery and then into the postpartum period as well. What doulas do not do is offer clinical management advice. You're not going to see a doula “catching the baby” or making recommendations on medications or treatment plans. They are there to make sure that patients know how to advocate for themselves, to know what questions to be asking and to make sure that the care plan is clear and that the patient is feeling supported emotionally and physically.

Doyle: Even when everything goes well, pregnancy and giving birth are still hard because they come with their own physical and emotional challenges. So many expecting families find themselves continually asking, ‘Is this normal?’ ‘Am I doing this right?’ Having an experienced set of hands to help guide you, separate from the clinical care that you're getting from an OB or a midwife, makes such a big difference as you settle in.

Dennis: I thought I'd be prepared for childbirth and for the postpartum period because I'm an OB/GYN, and I had coached women through it for many years before doing it myself, but when I was in that postpartum period myself, I realized I needed help. We all think we can do it on our own, but this is not the time to be a hero.

MHE: This initiative aims to address disparities, particularly among Black families. How would you say Black families are impacted, and how will you ensure the program effectively serves them?

Doyle: The University of Chicago Medicine is embedded in the South Side of Chicago, where, just like many other places, there have been closures of birthing hospitals.

The team that is providing this care at UChicago Medicine is from the community and is very rooted in reproductive justice and is very committed to advancing Black maternal health outcomes. Evidence has shown that having the support of a doula and having culturally congruent care can make a big difference in health outcomes.

Melissa and I are both White women, and we don't bring that lived experience. Yet, we know that it is so important and is something that the team that is out there caring for this population does bring in spades.

Dennis: I think it's also very important to acknowledge that this is one step. There are many steps and so much more work that needs to be done to ensure that Black birthing women are getting the respect, the care and the outcomes that are needed.

MHE: How has Illinois expanding Medicaid coverage for doula care influenced the partnership that you have with UChicago Medicine?

Doyle: That legislation was a catalyst for us being able to do this in a way that was scalable, sustainable and tapped into insurance and reimbursement. We believe doula care is a core component of patient care, but we also, as an organization, provide lactation support, behavioral health, nutrition and physical therapy. Those clinical services are all typically covered by insurance at some level or another, so it's exciting to see doula care start to move under this umbrella, and that's in our minds what this legislation really is promoting.

There is a second wave of legislation in Illinois that is looking at the commercially insured population and expanding access there.

MHE: Do you expect private insurers to follow suit in reimbursing doula services more broadly?

Doyle: Absolutely. We have seen some states that are starting to require commercially insured plans to be able to provide access and Illinois is one of them. It's a bigger push on the Medicaid side, where most states are providing some level of reimbursement for doula care under Medicaid.

UnitedHealthcare recently announced that they were launching a national doula benefit, and we expect that other plans are in the process of doing this.

MHE: What do you think it would take for 24/7 doula access to become standard practice in hospitals?

Dennis: Partnerships are important at institutions where doula care is an identified need. We are the first in Illinois to be offering 24/7 doula care in a hospital setting, and I think demonstrating that what we're doing is working is going to be incredibly important.

Doyle: There is a major shift happening in maternal care in terms of reimbursement. We're expecting a change, moving from mostly a bundled fee model into more of a traditional fee-for-service model. That is a major opportunity for systems to reexamine the care that they're providing.