Maternity care unbundling: why the global payment bundle is ending and what it means for innovation, costs, and access | Neel Shah (Maven Clinic)

Neel Shah, Chief Medical Officer at Maven Clinic, breaks down one of the most consequential and underreported changes in healthcare payment: the end of the global maternity care bundle. For roughly 40 years, pregnancy and childbirth were paid for as a single bundled payment. Starting January 2027, care will be paid for through individual CPT codes.

Neel walks through why the bundle is ending. Team-based care has made the original model increasingly difficult to administer, and the bundle was stifling innovation by failing to account for 40 years of technological change in maternity care. The unbundling is designed to be budget neutral, but budget neutral means some providers win and some lose, and the implications for rural practices and lower-risk pregnancies are real.

The conversation also covers what employers and brokers should expect, why purchasers whose populations skew higher risk could see cost increases of up to 10%, and why Neel thinks this is a "slow burn" story that the industry is only beginning to process.

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