Axia Women’s Health and Cayaba Care Initiate Partnership to Address Maternal Health Equity

April 12, 2023 – Cayaba Care, a holistic maternity support services program, and Axia Women’s Health, one of the nation’s largest independent women’s healthcare groups, announced today a new partnership that aims to address health inequities and improve maternal health outcomes with a focus on Black and Brown communities. This announcement coincides with Black Maternal Health Week, a week dedicated to raising awareness and strengthening support for Black maternal health.

Tragically, the United States has a higher maternal mortality rate than any other developed country, and the national maternal mortality rate has nearly doubled in the last 3 years.¹ Black women are facing disproportionately worse outcomes, being three times more likely to die from pregnancy complications than white women.² Research also shows that more than 80% of pregnancy-related deaths are preventable, highlighting the need for better access to care.³

“At Axia Women’s Health, we are passionate about addressing these health disparities and improving the current state of maternal health in the United States. It’s time to move beyond awareness and into action in transforming care for those at highest risk. That’s why we’re proud to be partnering with organizations like Cayaba Care to help us bridge the gaps in care and better support those who had previously been underserved,” shared Dr. Gaurov Dayal, Chief Executive Officer at Axia Women’s Health.

Through this partnership, select Axia Women’s Health patients will gain access to the Cayaba Care program that provides pregnant and recently pregnant people with in-home and virtual services tailored to their unique needs. Cayaba Care provides wraparound services that include emotional and mental support, help with hospital appointments, symptom management, benefit navigation, and more. Each person is matched with a Maternity Navigator from their community that is their main point of contact. The program also provides access to a Care Team that includes registered nurses, nurse practitioners, social workers, lactation consultants, and registered dietician nutritionists.

The program will initially launch in Pennsylvania to provide an extra layer of support for patients throughout their pregnancy and especially between their in-office visits with their provider. Cayaba Care will work closely with Axia physicians to jointly expand its impact in addressing racial disparities in underserved communities for the companies’ shared patients.

Dr. Olan Soremekun, Chief Executive Officer at Cayaba Care shared, “As a Black father and husband, I experienced firsthand that despite my family’s education and income, we still needed additional support in-between OB visits and during delivery. We founded Cayaba Care to be accessible and to provide every Black woman the holistic support needed to achieve equity in maternal outcomes.”

“At Cayaba Care, we are committed not only to helping each patient have a safe birth, but also a dignified and positive pregnancy journey that takes into account their overall long-term physical, mental, and emotional health. We commend the team at Axia Women’s Health for their focused efforts in this collaboration aimed at reducing racial disparities in maternal health, while improving access to care and promoting a positive patient experience,” added Dr. Mary Fleming, Co-Founder and Senior VP of Health Equity Accountability.

About Axia Women’s Health
Axia Women’s Health is leading the way in improving women’s health. At the core of achieving this is a caring, connected, and progressive community of nearly 500 providers and 200 women’s health centers across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky. The rapidly growing network spans OB/GYN physicians, breast health centers, high-risk pregnancy centers, a central laboratory, Urogynecology, and fertility centers. Together, Axia Women’s Health puts women first by delivering the personalized care needed for women to lead healthier, happier lives. Learn more at AxiaWH.com.

About Cayaba Care
Cayaba Care is a maternal health company offering community-based clinical services via technology-enabled multidisciplinary care teams. Cayaba Care provides care coordination, benefit sign-up, routine maternity care in the prenatal and postpartum period, mental health/counseling, breastfeeding support, and patient education. For more information about Cayaba Care, visit https://www.cayabacare.com.

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1Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Maternal Mortality Rates in the United States, 2021. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/maternal-mortality/2021/maternal-mortality-rates-2021.htm
2Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Working Together to Reduce Black Maternal Mortality, 2022.
https://www.cdc.gov/healthequity/features/maternal-mortality/index.html
3Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Pregnancy-Related Deaths: Data from Maternal Mortality Review Committees in 36 US States, 2017–2019. https://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/maternal-mortality/erase-mm/data-mmrc.html