HYDE PARK — Doulas are now available around the clock at University of Chicago Medicine through a partnership with a health care startup.
Partum Health began staffing seven doulas March 31 at UChicago Medicine’s labor and delivery ward, 5721 S. Maryland Ave. in Hyde Park. The doulas provide non-clinical physical, emotional and educational support to help patients navigate labor.
That includes providing comfort measures to parents who choose unmedicated childbirth, clarifying clinical teams’ explanations, offering support for unexpected cesarean births and giving limited postpartum care. The doulas can also support parents experiencing miscarriages, death and other traumatic outcomes.
“Being integrated into the hospital system allows us to have access to some of these spaces that were normally off-limits” to private doulas, said Dr. Melissa Dennis, an OB/GYN and chief medical officer for Partum Health.
Doulas at UChicago will typically be available “at no extra cost as long as they have a qualifying insurance, and that includes Medicaid,” Dennis said.
Illinois’ Medicaid program was expanded to include doulas and lactation consultants in 2024, and the UChicago-based doulas are Medicaid-certified. More private insurers are expected to begin reimbursements amid the rollout of the state’s Birth Equity Act, said Giovanna Otavalo, talent acquisition manager for Partum Health.
“Traditionally, doulas have been available for families to hire out of pocket, and it can be quite an extraordinary cost that is not feasible for many families,” Otavalo said.
The team will follow similar ratios to nurses, with an expectation of one doula per shift and two patients per doula, Otavalo said.
If there are more eligible and interested patients than available doulas, the program will consider factors like “those who are coming in alone, those who have received no prior medical support in their pregnancy [and] those who are known trauma survivors,” Otavalo said. Patients may also still opt for a private doula.
“There is a way of prioritizing folks who may need a next level of support, versus folks who already feel they are supported by their immediate networks,” Otavalo said.
A majority of the doulas staffed through the UChicago partnership are people of color and South Side residents, many of whom have previously worked for nonprofits and other community-based organizations, Otavalo said.
“We know that there’s a great level of improvement [possible] for families to be served by providers who share their experiences, and can provide culturally sensitive and culturally congruent care,” she said.
The program launched amid a relative expansion of access to doulas and to maternal health care broadly on the South Side and nationwide.
In addition to the Birth Equity Act’s passage in 2021 and the 2024 Medicaid expansion, the Chicago South Side Birth Center broke ground this week, ahead of a planned 2027 opening as the first facility of its kind on the South Side. Kennedy-King College will also debut a midwifery program this fall.
Illinois is one of more than 30 states to now reimburse doulas through Medicaid or begin implementing such coverage, while private insurer UnitedHealthcare will launch a new doula benefit this year, according to The Associated Press. Without insurance, costs vary widely but can exceed $2,000.
Expanding doula care, experts say, is a relatively inexpensive way to help reduce maternal mortality, which affects Black mothers at a rate more than three times higher than white women, according to The AP.
“The vision is that as we launch, that this is an incredible success for UChicago and that the program does nothing but expand until every patient who shows up at [the university’s] labor and delivery ward will have access to 24/7 doula support,” Dennis told Block Club.
A representative from UChicago Medicine’s Family Birth Center could not be reached for this story.
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