Georgia is in the middle of a maternal health emergency that has settled into a full-blown public health crisis. Pregnancy-related deaths have climbed in recent years, and the toll is not evenly shared. Black mothers and people living in rural counties face the steepest risks. As hospitals and obstetric units thin out in parts of the state, community-based support like trained doulas is getting fresh attention as an evidence-backed, relatively low-cost way to cut complications and shore up postpartum care.
On April 4, FOX 5 Atlanta spoke with Dr. Hiren Patel, chief medical officer for UnitedHealthcare, who said expanding access to doulas “could be a key part” of improving outcomes for mothers and babies. Insurer leaders and clinicians are increasingly talking about doula support as a preventive tool that can reduce interventions and the downstream costs tied to high-risk births.
Why Georgia's Numbers Are Alarming
The Georgia Department of Public Health reports that pregnancy-related maternal deaths have been rising and maintains a formal review process to identify preventable factors behind those deaths. A statewide account by Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies put Georgia's maternal mortality rate at 37.9 deaths per 100,000 live births and estimated that 87% of those deaths were preventable in its 2025 "State of the State" report.
Racial Gaps And Maternity Care Deserts
State reviews and research show that the crisis lands hardest on Black women and rural residents. A peer-reviewed analysis published on PubMed Central found that non-Hispanic Black women in Georgia had maternal death rates more than twice those of non-Hispanic White women. The same work noted that dozens of counties lack obstetric providers or hospital labor-and-delivery units, leaving many communities effectively in "maternity care deserts."
How Doulas Move the Needle
Doulas are trained, nonmedical companions who provide continuous emotional, physical and informational support throughout pregnancy, labor and the postpartum period. Evidence has been consistent. A Cochrane review of continuous labor support found that women receiving continuous one-to-one support were more likely to have spontaneous vaginal births, less likely to have cesareans and more likely to report higher satisfaction. Newer meta-analyses focused on intrapartum doula programs have shown similar reductions in cesarean rates in randomized trials.
Payers And Pilots Are Starting To Act
Private payers are starting to put real money behind the idea. UnitedHealthcare announced in March 2026 that it had expanded a doula offering to eligible employer-sponsored plans nationwide. National reporting has tracked a broader movement, with more states reimbursing doulas through Medicaid or testing pilot programs, and managed-care pilots run by insurers exploring how to scale and credential community doulas.
Local Programs Filling Gaps
On the ground in Georgia, training programs are already trying to plug holes in care. Morehouse School of Medicine's Perinatal Patient Navigator program has graduated community doulas in Albany and Atlanta to serve rural and Black communities. Advocates say this model can help build capacity in areas where hospitals and obstetric staffing have pulled back.
What Policy Change Looks Like
Advocates and researchers say that scaling doula care will require durable payment pathways, workforce funding and stronger data collection. The Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies report and best-practice guidance from the National Health Law Program call for Medicaid coverage for doula services, standards to credential doulas and investments to diversify and fairly pay community providers. Those are the kinds of changes Georgia policymakers will have to weigh alongside other maternal-health initiatives.
Extending postpartum Medicaid coverage to a full year, a policy Georgia has adopted in recent sessions, helps remove one major barrier to follow-up care. It does not automatically create reimbursement codes or sustainable pay for doulas, however. That gap is why local training efforts, insurer pilots and state policy all need to move in concert if doula access is going to reach the people who need it most.
Doula care is not a silver bullet, yet it is a proven, low-tech lever that reduces unnecessary interventions, supports breastfeeding and improves patient experience. Those outcomes add up to lives saved. With insurers beginning to expand benefits and community programs training doulas, Georgia has a clearer pathway to narrowing its deadly gaps, provided policy choices and funding follow.
