Prenatal care has normally consisted of a dozen or so scheduled checkups before a baby is born. Now, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) has issued new guidelines for expectant mothers.
Doctors are now recommending a change from a century of routine visits that run the course of a pregnancy to a more personalized care plan for pregnant patients.
The changes come at a critical time, according to Dr. Alex Peahl, an obstetrician with University of Michigan Health.
“We know that we’re in the midst of a maternity care crisis, with birthing people today more likely to die in childbirth than their mothers. We also know that access is a huge issue.”
Peahl says a quarter of people are not able to access prenatal care in the first trimester. And of those who do access care, half of them fail to get services in the recommended time.
New guidelines call for individualized plans to determine frequent in-person or online telemedicine visits.
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