Every expectant mother deserves timely, expert care, regardless of geography or circumstance. Yet, many pregnant Americans live in maternity care deserts, areas with no clinician to deliver babies and/or outpatient clinics or birthing hospitals to provide pregnancy care. According to the most recent March of Dimes Report Card, low access to care is linked to over 10,000 excess preterm births between 2020 and 2022 – a major driver of maternal and infant mortality in the U.S.
What is the impact of living in a maternity care desert? Expecting moms are less likely to receive prenatal care, leading to the underdiagnosis and undertreatment of potentially life-altering or even deadly conditions. Travel times for high-risk pregnancy care often exceed two hours, introducing delays to critical interventions. Many rural clinics lack the technology and training to identify and manage complex obstetric cases. And, fragmented referral networks in low-access areas and limited maternal health staff further restricts options for moms and babies.
Compounding this issue is the steep reductions in federal Medicaid support following redistribution of federal funding earlier this year. Rural hospitals and other safety-net providers that are already operating on thin margins are likely to be hit the hardest by reductions in Medicaid funding.
Amidst these challenges, the $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP), a five-year effort administered by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), is poised to help rural providers modernize and adapt. This program is designed to provide states with meaningful, flexible funding to reimagine rural care delivery—and maternal health should be one of the clearest, most urgent places to start.
All states applied for the grants. In late December 2025, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that all 50 states will receive awards under the Rural Health Transformation Program. CMS has now launched a new phase of collaboration with each state to accomplish their transformative visions.
Once funding is received, states must identify initiatives that are both ready to deploy and clearly aligned with RHTP’s goals—particularly those that strengthen access, stabilize the workforce, and leverage telehealth and virtual care. Maternal health represents one of the most urgent opportunities for impact. States should prioritize scalable, proven solutions such as Obtelecare and Ob Hospitalist Group’s (OBHG) Maternal Health Access Solutions (MHAS) to expand specialty access, support workforce development, and stabilize rural obstetric services.
Obtelecare: bringing MFM capability to the bedside in low-access areas
Beyond accessibility, the widening shortage of maternal-fetal medicine (MFM) specialists is another central challenge in rural maternity care. Many communities can’t staff an on-site MFM practice, so Obtelecare, as a teleMFM solution, fills that gap with access to high-risk expertise that scales to local needs.
Because 90% of MFM care can be delivered remotely, Obtelecare improves early detection and speeds clinical decision-making through real-time consults, virtual rounding, and remote monitoring of NSTs and ultrasounds, which helps local teams act sooner when a pregnancy is trending in the wrong direction and avoid unnecessary transfers when care can safely stay local.
Unlike “one-off telehealth,” Obtelecare is designed to mirror an on-site practice: consistent clinicians, integrated CNM support, continuity of care, and deep familiarity with community resources, creating a true extension of the local OB team. Obtelecare sets itself apart from other telehealth providers by a strong history of quality and safety metrics, backed by OBHG’s 20-year clinical reputation.
And for rural hospitals already stretched thin, Obtelecare is also operationally realistic: it reduces administrative and financial friction through timely, billable EMR documentation, compliance support, and revenue capture that fits into existing workflows rather than creating a parallel process. The technology is deliberately flexible—Obtelecare can deploy equipment, integrate with preferred platforms, and onboard quickly using a proven implementation approach, so sites can move from planning to real clinical impact on a practical timeline.
A recent example is Memorial Hospital Gulfport in Gulfport, Mississippi, where Obtelecare launched a 24/7 inpatient teleMFM program in under 60 days, supporting the region’s only Level III NICU and expanding access to high-risk pregnancy expertise amid rising patient volumes and statewide maternal health challenges.
MHAS: stabilizing OB coverage so rural hospitals can keep their doors open
For rural hospitals where staffing instability threatens the viability of obstetric services, Ob Hospitalist Group’s Maternal Health Access Solutions (MHAS) can provide critical stabilization alongside specialty access solutions like Obtelecare. Rather than relying on a traditional OB hospitalist model, MHAS helps hospitals respond to workforce shortages, reduce clinician burnout and maintain consistent OB coverage through tailored staffing strategies. MHAS is designed for smaller and rural hospitals that need flexible, right-sized OB coverage—helping ensure labor and delivery units can remain open and operational.
A powerful example is Kittitas Valley Healthcare in rural Washington, where the planned retirement of all three full-time OB/GYNs placed the hospital’s L&D unit at risk of closure. Through a customized, rotation-based staffing approach, MHAS helped restore reliable coverage and preserve access to local maternity care.
Deploy what works: Proven maternal health models for rural states
If states want maternal health wins from RHTP funds, they need deployable programs that deliver early results while laying the groundwork for long-term sustainability.
Rural communities deserve maternity care that isn’t dependent on luck, geography, or whether the only local OB happens to be on call that night. The Rural Health Transformation Program gives states the chance to build something better, and maternal health solutions like Obtelecare and MHAS are smart places to begin.
Interested in leveraging CMS’s Rural Health Transformation funding to expand access to maternal-fetal medicine?
Let’s talk about how Obtelecare’s tele-MFM services can help you strengthen high-risk pregnancy care, enhance clinical capacity and support your rural care strategy under the Rural Health Transformation Program. Get in touch here.
