Can birth planning lower NICU risk? New Maven data shows positive outcomes for high-risk pregnancies

What you need to know:

• Among 979 Maven members with high-risk pregnancies, those who attended virtual birth planning appointments had 59% lower odds of a NICU admission and were nearly four times more likely to report being actively involved in labor and delivery decisions.
• Maven's high-risk members have fewer C-sections and NICU admissions compared to national statistics, based on new Maven Clinical Research Institute benchmarks, with birth planning contributing to these improved outcomes.
• Birth planning appointments with a midwife are a low-cost, easily scaled intervention that can show a measurable impact on birth outcomes.

High-risk pregnancies come with a long list of things that can go wrong — and the costs to match. Maternity care is already one of the top five cost drivers for employers and health plans, and costs are continuing to climb. For example, a one-week NICU stay can cost $58,100 per week. Benefits leaders are grappling with how to plan around that spend, while looking for ways to prevent it, too.

New research from Maven suggests that birth planning could address cost concerns and facilitate better birth outcomes: patients with high-risk pregnancies who attended virtual birth planning appointments had 59% lower odds of a NICU admission and were nearly four times more likely to report being actively involved in their labor and delivery decisions.

Maven Clinical Research Institute's study, presented as an abstract at ACOG's 2026 Annual Clinical and Scientific Meeting, looked at 979 Maven members with high-risk pregnancies who had enrolled between August 2024 and June 2025 and been diagnosed with at least one gestational condition. Controlling for factors like age, BMI, chronic conditions, and mental health history, researchers compared outcomes for members who attended virtual birth planning appointments with a midwife through the Maven platform against those who didn't.

Why access to birth planning appointments matters

Birth planning — a structured conversation about a patient's preferences and options for labor and delivery — is generally associated with better outcomes and more say for patients in their own care. But it's rarely part of a standard prenatal visit; often there simply isn't time.

MCRI's results point to the benefits of offering virtual, on-demand access to birth planning. It's a low-cost, easily scaled intervention members can engage in when they're ready, that changes how prepared and how included a patient is when it counts.

"Every number in this research represents a mother who got the support she needed before a complication became something worse," said Kate Ryder, founder and CEO of Maven Clinic. "But what these numbers also tell me is that we finally have proof for something we've believed for a long time: the right support…is worth the investment."

Beyond birth planning, high-risk members engaging in Maven's maternity program had better birth outcomes compared to a national benchmark. MCRI's research found that members with high-risk pregnancies using Maven Clinic's maternity program had a C-section rate of 40.1%, compared with 44.4% in a matched national benchmark, and a NICU admission rate of 13.9%, compared with 20.4% nationally. The comparison draws on the CDC's Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS), a nationally representative survey of people who have recently given birth.

Federal changes to how maternity care gets reimbursed take effect in January 2027, and C-sections and NICU stays are two of the most expensive line items in that spending. For employers trying to plan around all of it, the open question has been whether any of it is preventable — and if so, what actually moves the number. Maven's maternity program gives members unlimited access to OB-GYNs, midwives, doulas, mental health providers, and other specialists throughout pregnancy and postpartum, through employer- and health plan-sponsored benefits. The company partners with more than 2,300 employers and health plans. See how Maven can support your high-risk population here.

Frequently Asked Questions

What counts as a high-risk pregnancy? A pregnancy is generally considered high-risk when a preexisting condition, a pregnancy complication, or other factors — such as hypertension, gestational diabetes, or a multiples pregnancy — increase the chance of health problems for the pregnant person or the baby. High-risk status typically means closer monitoring and more specialized care throughout pregnancy.

Does birth planning actually change birth outcomes? In this study, high-risk patients who attended virtual birth planning appointments had meaningfully lower odds of a NICU admission and were far more likely to report being actively involved in labor and delivery decisions, suggesting that structured conversations about preferences and options ahead of delivery may support better outcomes.

Why do NICU admission rates matter for employers and health plans? NICU stays are among the costliest parts of maternity care, and admission rates are often used as a marker of how well complications were anticipated and managed during pregnancy. Reducing avoidable admissions matters both for the health of newborns and for total cost of care.

What's driving the national rise in NICU admissions and C-sections? Researchers point to several contributing factors, including rising rates of chronic conditions during pregnancy, later childbearing age, and inconsistent access to preventive care and patient education — the kind of gaps that access-focused interventions like virtual birth planning are designed to close.