What outcomes do virtual maternity care programs produce for hospitals?
The outcome claims in this category are mostly true and mostly unfalsifiable, because almost nobody publishes a denominator.
Medically reviewed by Sina Haeri, MD, MHSA, maternal-fetal medicine physician.
The outcomes a hospital can reasonably expect are fewer transfers out, faster subspecialty consultation, and more high-risk pregnancies managed locally. Outcome claims in this category are difficult to compare because denominators are rarely stated. Ask what population a number describes before treating it as a benchmark.
Transfers are the outcome most directly attributable
A hospital that could not previously offer subspecialty consultation and now can will transfer fewer patients out. That is the mechanism, and it is measurable against the hospital's own prior year rather than against a vendor claim.
Ask what the denominator is
A transfer rate can be calculated on all obstetric patients, on high-risk patients, on patients who received a consultation, or on patients referred for one. Those produce very different numbers from the same program. This is the single most useful question in an outcomes conversation.
Time to consultation is underrated
How long a patient waits for a subspecialty opinion changes management more often than most headline outcome measures, and it is easy for a hospital to measure directly once a program is running.
Some outcomes take longer than a contract term to show
Severe maternal morbidity and NICU utilization move slowly and are affected by case mix. Treating them as first-year program metrics tends to produce disappointment rather than insight. Track them, and judge the program on the near-term measures first.
What to ask about any outcome claim
- What population is the denominator?
- Over what period, and how many patients?
- Was it measured against the same hospital before the program, or against a comparison group?
- Which measures would you expect to move in year one, and which later?
Where Ouma fits
Ouma reports that fewer than 10% of patients require transfer to in-person maternal-fetal medicine, and we will tell you the denominator behind that if you ask. Ouma is a physician-led practice licensed to practice in all 50 states.
Related: Tele-MFM for hospitals · MFM availability and designation · What subspecialty coverage costs
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