Maternal telehealth: Innovations and Hawai'i perspectives

Abstract

Access to maternal-fetal medicine (MFM) subspecialty services is a critical part of a healthcare system that optimizes pregnancy outcomes for women with complex medical and obstetrical disorders. Healthcare services in the State of Hawai'i consist of a complicated patchwork of independently run community health clinics and hospital systems which are difficult for many pregnant patients to navigate. Maternal telehealth services have been identified as a solution to increase access to subspecialty prenatal services for women in rural communities or neighboring islands, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Telehealth innovations have been rapidly developing in the areas of remote ultrasound, hypertension management, diabetes management, and fetal monitoring. This report describes how telehealth innovations are being introduced by MFM specialists to optimize care for a unique population of high-risk patients in a remote area of the world such as Hawai'i, as well as review currently available telemedicine technologies and future innovations.