Midwives are maternity care professionals who provide health care, education, and support to women during pregnancy, labor and birth, and the postpartum period. Midwives are trained to be sensitive to the individual needs of women, to detect problems throughout the childbearing cycle, and to link families with additional social and medical services as needed.
Midwives provide safe, cost-effective, high quality care.
Midwives provide care in many settings, including a woman's home, birth centers, clinics, and hospitals. Midwives may charge their clients directly for services provided or may bill third-party payers. In Washington, licensed midwives are eligible for Medicaid reimbursement and have preferred provider contracts with many private health plans. Midwives are receiving increasing national recognition for providing safe, high quality care with the same or better outcomes at lower costs than comparable alternatives. A recent report of the Pew Health Professions Commission identified the midwifery model of care as an essential element of comprehensive health care for women and their families that should be embraced by the health-care system and made available to all women.