Study Data from Women’s Center Update Understanding of Managed Care (Defining Midwifery-led Care In the United States Using Concept Analysis): Managed Care

2025 JAN 20 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Fresh data on Managed Care are presented in a new report. According to news reporting originating in Lynchburg, Virginia, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “National health policy initiatives recommend increased integration of midwifery care in the United States to improve care quality and reduce maternal health disparities. However, the service models through which midwives provide midwifery care and produce quality outcomes are poorly understood.”

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from Women’s Center, “Midwifery-led care is a service model frequently associated with improved outcomes compared with other models. The service model has been infrequently or inconsistently studied in the Unites States and has been narrowly defined and applied to perinatal care. The purpose of this concept analysis was to evaluate the concept of midwifery-led care and expand the definition to guide midwifery practice, research, and health policy. The analysis followed Walker and Avant’s methodology. Three attributes of midwifery-led care were identified: (1) midwife as the lead clinician; (2) person-midwife partnership; and (3) care embodies midwifery philosophy. Antecedents were (1) license to practice as a midwife; (2) a person needing or desiring sexual, reproductive, perinatal, or newborn care; (3) a person with low- or moderate-risk health status; (4) regulations and guidelines that support provision of midwifery care; and (5) reimbursement for services. Consequences of midwifery-led care included (1) improved maternal and neonatal outcomes, (2) patient satisfaction, and (3) reduced health care costs. The presented expanded definition of midwifery-led care is the first to use a systems level approach and explicitly center the person receiving care and the philosophical approach of midwifery care.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Application of this definition is needed in theoretical and pragmatic research to classify midwifery-led care and other service models and compare patient- and organization-level outcomes.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Defining Midwifery-led Care In the United States Using Concept Analysis. Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health, 2024. Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health can be contacted at: Wiley, 111 River St, Hoboken 07030-5774, NJ, USA.

Our news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Katie Page, Centra Hlth, Centra Med Grp, Women’s Center, Lynchburg, VA 24502, United States. Additional authors for this research include Brie Thumm, Julia Phillippi, Cathy L. Emeis and Allison Cummins.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1111/jmwh.13727. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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