The leading professional membership organization for the country’s obstetricians and gynecologists now supports the use of telehealth to improve the quality of and increase access to obstetric and gynecologic care. A new committee statement from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) states that telehealth should be supported as an appropriate alternative to in-person care. The statement augments the organization’s longstanding position on the clinical benefits of telehealth with an ethical imperative: OB-GYNs have an ethical imperative to deploy telehealth to expand access to care.
How Access TeleCare’s teleMFM Model Aligns
This ethical imperative mirrors how Access TeleCare delivers teleMaternal-Fetal Medicine.
Access TeleCare’s teleMFM service is built to support hospitals and OB-GYN practices that lack on-site MFM coverage or face intermittent access due to workforce shortages. The service combines:
- Board-certified MFM specialists, available for scheduled consults and urgent clinical decision support
- Team of Registered Diagnostic Medical Sonographers to support high-quality imaging
- Real-time collaboration with local OB teams, preserving continuity of care and shared decision-making
- Support for high-risk pregnancies, including hypertensive disorders, multiples, diabetes, fetal growth concerns, and complex comorbidities
- Scalable coverage, allowing hospitals and OB-GYN practices to expand MFM access without recruiting scarce subspecialists
This approach directly reflects ACOG’s guidance: telehealth is not a replacement for local care, but a means of extending subspecialty expertise where and when it’s needed, without compromising quality or patient choice.
“We already know that gaps in access, whether due to geography, staffing shortages, or patient risk, directly affect outcomes,” said Blake Porter, M.D, chief of maternal-fetal medicine at Access TeleCare. “ACOG’s guidance puts language around what many clinicians have felt for years. If technology allows us to identify risk earlier, guide local teams in real time, and keep patients safely cared for close to home, then using it isn’t just innovative. It’s responsible care.”
A Real-World Proof Point
In South Texas, a local obstetrics practice successfully managed a high-risk pregnancy with Access TeleCare’s teleMFM support. A patient pregnant with quadruplets received all her pre-natal care close to home with her regular OB-GYN and with a teleMFM specialist, avoiding multiple long-distance trips for care and monitoring by a maternal-fetal medicine specialist. Typically, a patient in her community with such a high-risk pregnancy would have to travel 2.5 hours each way for regular appointments with a maternal-fetal medicine specialist.
[Read the Case Study Button]The result reflected exactly what ACOG outlines: improved access to specialty care and a care model built around patient need rather than geography.
The Takeaway for Health Systems
ACOG’s guidance sets a professional benchmark. Telehealth belongs within the standard of practice and is ethically obligated when it expands access to obstetric care.
