Mood and anxiety disorders are one of the biggest gaps in maternity care. Mental health is now the leading underlying cause of pregnancy-related death in the United States.1 Ouma pairs universal screening with real perinatal mental health specialists. Women living with a silent, treatable illness are found and cared for within days.
1. CDC Maternal Mortality Review Committees.
1. CDC Maternal Mortality Review Committees. 2. Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health / MMHLA.
For decades, the deadliest risks in pregnancy were hemorrhage and hypertension. That has changed. Today, mental health conditions, including suicide and overdose, are the leading underlying cause of pregnancy-related death in the country.1
These deaths are not driven by untreatable illness. They are driven by illness that goes unseen.
Everyone in maternity is busier than ever, and screening for mood disorders is the thing that quietly falls off the visit. So women carry a silent illness that no one has named.
It follows them through pregnancy, through delivery, and into a postpartum period when they are most vulnerable and least likely to ask for help.
1. CDC Maternal Mortality Review Committees.
When Ouma launched its Medicaid program, we made a decision most practices cannot: screen 100% of members for mood disorders. For roughly a third of the patients we diagnosed with a mood disorder, their local provider had never known about it, and nothing had been done.‡ These were not new illnesses. They were illnesses no one had gone looking for.
Timeliness is the other half of the job. Ouma gets these patients to care the same day or within a couple of days.‡ That is a meaningful quality measure, and it is also a kindness.
See what screening surfaces →‡ Ouma program data.
Behavioral health at Ouma is a real clinical team, built specifically for the perinatal period and backed by subspecialty medicine.
Your patient's primary behavioral-health clinician.
Subspecialty medicine behind every plan.
For the cases beyond everyone's comfort.
Ouma behavioral health covers the whole perinatal window. Patients have access throughout pregnancy and through the entire first year postpartum, up to 12 months.‡
Common presentations we are built for, for patients who are pregnant or postpartum.
Real clinical care, delivered by perinatal specialists with shared decision-making.
‡ Ouma program data.
Behavioral health is a talking specialty. There is no exam, nothing to touch or palpate. That makes it one of the few areas of medicine where telemedicine is an ideal fit rather than a compromise.
No waiting room, no drive to find the one perinatal therapist in the region, and care that works around a new mother's schedule from home. Removing those barriers is often the difference between a patient attending and a patient disappearing.
Every patient is matched with a licensed perinatal mental health specialist, not a coach or a chatbot, and sees the same clinician across the journey. As clinicians ourselves, we extend your team and protect the relationship you have with your patient.
Your clinic identifies and schedules the patients. Ouma stands up the behavioral-health capacity behind them, on your systems and in your workflow.
A solution that works in your environment and on your systems, so behavioral health integrates into the care you already deliver.
Stand up Ouma virtual clinics sized to your need, starting in half-day blocks and scaling as demand grows.
Licensed clinicians who can prescribe in all 50 states, so medication management is never gated by geography.
We co-manage with your obstetric and primary-care teams and share decisions, protecting the relationship you have with your patient.
Ouma's perinatal behavioral health program is designed for mild-to-moderate perinatal mood and anxiety. For most perinatal depression and anxiety, this is exactly the right level of care.
Some situations need in-person, higher-acuity, or emergency care. We coordinate rapid routing to local or higher-acuity care for patients who have:
Knowing this line is part of practicing good perinatal psychiatry. We meet patients where telehealth serves them best, and we make sure the ones who need more get there quickly.
Ouma maintains a formal telehealth crisis protocol. When a safety concern surfaces during a visit, our clinicians follow a structured risk assessment using validated tools and coordinate an immediate 911 or 988 response as needed. Safety is built into how we practice, not left to chance.‡
‡ Ouma program data.
Mental health rarely stands alone in pregnancy. These Ouma services share the same care team and screening, so emotional wellbeing is supported alongside the medical picture.
The MFM backbone that supervises and coordinates this team
For perinatal substance use, where mood disorders so often travel alongside
Relationship-based, continuity-first care that pairs naturally with mental health support
The care coordination that ensures a positive screen actually reaches a clinician
Universal screening plus rapid treatment closes a gap that drives maternal mortality and quality scores, a measurable lift on maternal mental health and postpartum HEDIS measures.‡
For health plans →Support working parents through pregnancy and postpartum with real perinatal mental health care, beyond an EAP hotline.
For employers →Treat the mood disorders your screening surfaces without building a behavioral-health line yourself, a specialist team a warm handoff away.
For clinics →‡ Ouma program data.