Women's Health

While the evidence demonstrating the poor state of American women's health is not new, the nation's trends of maternal fatality may reflect broader failures in the approach to women's health care.

While resources and strategies to combat social determinants of health do exist, effectively leveraging them requires a coordinated approach involving supportive policies, technical assistance, community governance, and sustainable financing.

The Commonwealth Fund scorecard ranks Mississippi, Texas, Nevada, and Oklahoma among the poorest-performing states overall for women’s health care access, quality, and outcomes, while Massachusetts, Vermont, and Rhode Island rank at the top.

The 2025 Physician Fee Schedule includes a conversion factor reduction, expanded behavioral health services, extended telehealth waivers, new Quality Payment Program pathways, and measures to address suspect billing, alongside a Biden administration initiative introducing federal maternal health standards for hospitals.

This cross-sectional analysis of commercially insured delivering mothers suggests that greater out-of-pocket spending is incurred when pregnancy spans 2 years, causing them to face out-of-pocket limits twice.

In a joint letter addressed to Congress, Healthcare Across Borders, Take Back the Court Action Fund, and UltraViolet Action called out the resurgence of the Comstock Act, urging immediate action to repeal this century-old law that threatens reproductive rights and public health in the US.

The senate hearing held by the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I, Vermont), chairman of the committee, and ranking member Sen. Bill Cassidy, MD, (R, Louisiana), addressed the critical issue of physician and health care worker shortages, as well as the maternal health crisis, in the US.

In a presentation at the Greater Philadelphia Business Coalition on Health Women’s Health Summit, Shelly Lanning, cofounder and president of Visana Health, addressed the need for comprehensive approaches in women’s health care and their coverage options.

A presentation at the Greater Philadelphia Business Coalition on Health's 2024 Women’s Health Summit discussed how payers, including employers and public entities, can strategically influence health care purchasing to prioritize maternal health and equity.

The HHS Office for Civil Rights is investigating whether patient data were exposed in the cyberattack on Change Healthcare; a new study claims that the US’ high maternal mortality rates are the product of flawed data; HHS secretary is open to drug testing recipients of welfare.

The Democratic Women’s Caucus is urging insurers to comply with the Affordable Care Act (ACA) contraception requirement to cover birth control without cost sharing.

"It’s time for our industry to recognize the consequences of the lack of investment in maternal health and come together to bring forward innovations," Charlotte Owens, MD, stated.

A record low of 7.7% of Americans had no health insurance at the start of 2023; the American Academy of Pediatrics renewed its backing of gender care for children while requesting a research review; 2 lots of an oral contraceptive were recalled for possible reduction in effectiveness.

Project CARA, a perinatal substance exposure clinic, has implemented a contingency management program that targets appointment attendance for patients with any use disorder, regardless of substance or urine drug screen results.

Lawyers were questioned in a federal lawsuit intending to overturn approval of a drug used for medication abortion; during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, US maternal mortality increased for the third year in a row; the Alzheimer’s Association is lobbying Congress to push for Medicare coverage of new Alzheimer drugs under early access.

Findings of a meta-analysis showed that women with epilepsy were at increased odds of miscarriage, stillbirth, and maternal death, and risk of poor perinatal outcomes increased with greater use of antiseizure medication.

Online communities are important for individual’s facing infertility, but they should be carefully managed by professionals, a review finds.

Models containing a national database of demographic and reproductive data predict the probability of a live birth success after in vitro fertilization (IVF).

Reproductive and infertility care providers need to be aware of economic, racial, and ethnic disparities that act as barriers to care, and to work to lessen the impact of these barriers, according to a recent review.

Higher levels of self-perceived stress were negatively associated with Antral Follicle Count (AFC) and serum anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) levels in women seeking fertility care.

A single session of self-managed virtual reality (VR) exercise may help reduce endometriosis pain, a study suggests.

Limited affordability and availability make consulting with a gynecologist and receiving surgery for ovarian cancer difficult for many minority women.

A DNA sequencing analysis associated Q192R polymorphism in the paraoxonase 1 gene with female infertility in Saudi women.

The United States possesses the highest infant and maternal mortality rates compared with any other high-income country, even though it spends the most on health care.

A study finds certain employment types may be associated with higher rates of pregnancy loss, including early abortive outcomes, stillbirths, and no live births.

Johnson & Johnson (J&J) ends late-stage HIV vaccine trial; mothers in states with abortion bans are almost 3 times more likely to die before, during, and after birth; Sanofi hopes to release a drug for hemophilia A in 2023.

Most influencers on YouTube are promoting the discontinuation of hormonal birth control and promoting inaccurate medical information, according to a recent study.

Expanded health coverage sees an increase in enrollments; Antiabortion activists protest against CVS and Walgreens; $26,500 Alzheimer’s drug limits affordability

Expanded Medicaid coverage reduced hospitalizations by 17% in the first 60 days of the postpartum period, a study found.

A substudy of the Evidence for Contraceptive Options and HIV Outcomes trial, which compared 3 highly effective, reversible methods of contraception, concluded that women assigned either a copper intrauterine device or the levonorgestrel implant may have had condomless sex more frequently than women assigned to intramuscular depo-medroxyprogesterone acetate.