Startup Spotlight: Partum Health

How Partum Health reimagines perinatal care for families, bridging gaps in behavioral, physical and emotional health.

Partum Health is transforming the maternal health landscape by providing comprehensive, tech-enabled support for families navigating pregnancy and the postpartum experience. With a multidisciplinary care model that integrates behavioral health, lactation support, doula care, physical therapy and more. Partum Health aims to ensure that families receive holistic care. This approach empowers families during a critical time in their lives, making high-quality maternal and infant care accessible and effective — and helping families get to better health and more joy on their journeys.

Responses have been edited for length and clarity.

The Startup

Partum Health addresses a critical gap in perinatal care: while most people know to schedule a visit with their OB when they get a positive pregnancy test, the question of how to address other incredibly common complications — from anxiety and depression to pelvic floor issues — is much less clear. The result is care that is fragmented and difficult to access. This systemic gap leads to poor maternal health outcomes and higher overall costs, putting strain on both families and healthcare providers.

Meghan Doyle, CEO and cofounder of Partum Health, understands these challenges firsthand, having experienced the overwhelming nature of the postpartum period herself. “Living through pregnancy and especially the postpartum experience, there were so many obvious areas I needed help – from figuring out breastfeeding and rehabilitating my pelvic floor to managing my mental health through so much change. But finding and getting the care I needed was incredibly difficult,” she shares.

Realizing that support like pelvic floor physical therapy and postpartum home visits (often standard in high income countries with better maternal health outcomes) would have improved her health and experience, Doyle felt compelled to make a change: “The fact that we know there is care that helps families get to better health outcomes and we don’t make it accessible is simply unacceptable, especially in the face of worsening maternal and infant health outcomes and disparities in the US.”

The Challenge

According to Doyle, “Families must navigate a fragmented system to get support for behavioral health, lactation, doula care, physical therapy and other specialty care. This results in families missing opportunities for preventive care and often going without support for common complications.” COO and cofounder Matt Rogers explains that this lack of support leads to a range of significant issues: “For example, 50 percent of parents who receive a diagnosis for perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs) do not get treatment. And those who do seek support often encounter long wait times or significant out-of-pocket costs.” Challenges with access are exacerbated in rural areas, which are increasingly becoming maternal care deserts.

A majority of families will face health challenges during the perinatal period, including conditions like gestational diabetes and hypertension, perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs), physical complications such as pelvic floor dysfunction and challenges with breastfeeding. Despite the prevalence of these issues — affecting one in five birthing people with PMADs and nearly half with physical complications — many do not receive the care they need. This lack of support contributes to high rates of health complications, such as avoidable C-sections and preterm births, while adding stress to an overburdened healthcare workforce.

The Solution

Partum Health offers a tech-enabled, multidisciplinary care model designed to elevate perinatal support and improve health outcomes. Their platform provides access to a range of services, including behavioral health, lactation support, doula care and physical therapy, creating an integrated experience for families. Care is delivered through a hybrid model combining virtual and in person visits so that families have a go to source outside and between visits with their OB or midwife. By leveraging clinical research and technology, Partum Health ensures that families have convenient and personalized access to the care they need.

“Partum is making a tremendous impact among the families we serve, helping to transform a critical and challenging time in the formation of a family into one that’s supported, joyful and sets parents and children up for a healthy start to their journey,” says Doyle. Studies show that effective doula care can reduce C-section rates by up to 40 percent, while proper breastfeeding support increases duration and exclusivity, meeting WHO recommendations. Partum Health’s model combines evidence-based practices with modern technology to make high-quality perinatal care accessible to all families.

Recent Milestones

Partum Health has recently achieved two major milestones:

1. Expansion to Dallas The startup has expanded its services to Dallas, marking its third market launch. “We recently launched in Dallas, and are eager to begin serving the population there,” Rogers says. “We know based on recent data from Texas Department of State Health Services that families in Texas are in significant need as their rates of maternal mortality and morbidity are on the rise. We want to play a role in reversing this trend.”

2. EMBRACE Doula Training Program Partum Health launched the EMBRACE doula training and certification program to grow the doula workforce. This initiative responds to the increased need for high-quality doula care, fueled by Illinois’ Birth Equity Act, which mandates insurance coverage for doula services. “We are incredibly proud of EMBRACE preparing doulas for their critical role as a core member of a birthing person’s care team,” Doyle explains. “We worked with OBs, community based doulas, and a range of experts in maternal health to design this comprehensive and inclusive training.”

The Future

Partum Health envisions a future where every family has access to a full team of perinatal care experts who can help them avoid costly complications and better manage the stress and exhaustion of the early family building years. By integrating proactive care outreach, their goal is to ensure new parents have the support they need at their fingertips — whether through digital platforms or in-person visits.

“Our vision is a world in which the default model of care for families includes a full team of experts — not just a single OB-GYN and pediatrician — to adequately cover all health needs that families experience,” Doyle says. “We believe every family should have access to a birth and postpartum doula, mental health providers, lactation specialists, dietitians and physical therapists to be truly supported as they journey through pregnancy and postpartum. Only then can families be in control of their health and really soak in the joy of this eventful phase of life.”

How MATTER Has Helped

Partum Health has benefited from the MATTER community in Chicago, including participating in the 51 Labs accelerator, which provided expert guidance on navigating hospital and payer systems. “In addition to the community afforded by MATTER in Chicago, we were also fortunate to participate in the 51 Labs accelerator, which gave us access to experts who could help us work on tough problems, especially related to hospital and payer systems,” Doyle says. “The exposure and opportunities we’ve received through MATTER have also been valuable as we work to get the word out about Partum.”

About MATTER
At MATTER, we believe collaboration is the best way to improve healthcare. The MATTER collaborative includes more than 1,000 current and alumni startups from around the world, working together with dozens of hospitals and health systems, universities and industry-leading companies to build the future of healthcare. Together we are accelerating innovation, advancing care and improving lives. For more information, visit matter.health and follow @MATTERhealth.

About Partum Health
Partum Health believes all families deserve comprehensive, whole-person care that supports their mental, physical and emotional health needs throughout the pregnancy and postpartum experience. Through digital care coordination and patient education as well as interdisciplinary services offered virtually and in person by expert care providers, Partum Health makes this a reality for families. Partum Health aims to elevate the current standard of maternal care in the U.S., ensuring that all birthing people and their families have the support they need for healthy and more joyful parenting.