Ouma Health Chief Executive Officer Sina Haeri, MD, took the stage today at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) 2026 Annual Pregnancy Meeting to present findings from a study demonstrating that an inpatient maternal-fetal medicine (MFM) telemedicine program significantly reduced severe maternal morbidity (SMM) at three Texas hospitals.
The presentation, delivered during Oral Concurrent Session 9 on Quality, shared results from a retrospective cohort study of more than 4,400 deliveries. After implementation of the MFM telemedicine program, researchers observed a 34% reduction in severe maternal morbidity (adjusted odds ratio 0.66, 95% CI 0.45–0.96, p=0.03) – a statistically significant improvement that underscores the life-saving potential of virtual specialist care in underserved regions.
Bridging the MFM Desert Gap
Large swaths of the United States qualify as "MFM deserts," areas where pregnant patients with high-risk conditions have limited or no access to maternal-fetal medicine specialists. These geographic disparities contribute directly to worse outcomes for mothers and babies. While telemedicine has expanded outpatient access in recent years, its impact on inpatient obstetric care – where the most acute decisions happen – has remained an open question.
This study set out to answer it. Using the Texas Health Care Information Collection Inpatient Public Use Data File, the research team analyzed deliveries at three hospitals that adopted an inpatient MFM telemedicine program. The program was implemented between November and December 2022, with a wash-in period through June 2023. Outcomes from the post-implementation period (July–December 2023) were then compared against a matched pre-implementation window (July–December 2022).
A Collaborative Research Effort
The study was led by submitting author Adina R. Kern-Goldberger, MD, MPH, MSCE, of the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, alongside co-investigators from UTHealth Houston School of Public Health – Cecilia Ganduglia Cazaban, DrPH, MD; Chau Truong, PhD; and Sulki Park, PhD – and Sindhu K. Srinivas, MD, MSCE, of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
"These findings highlight what's possible when we bring specialist expertise to the bedside through technology," said Dr. Haeri. "For hospitals in communities without MFM coverage, telemedicine isn't a workaround – it's a pathway to measurably better outcomes for mothers."
What Comes Next
The researchers noted that the improvement in SMM was driven primarily by one of the three participating hospitals, pointing to the importance of understanding hospital-level barriers and facilitators to successful implementation. Future work will explore these dynamics, as well as policy and reimbursement strategies to support broader adoption, equity, and scalability of inpatient MFM telemedicine programs.