In Hamden, Connecticut, Dr. Monique Rainford is reimagining maternal care to confront racial disparities that have long plagued the U.S. health system. Her clinic, Enrich Health, opened in June with a mission to improve outcomes for Black mothers and babies, who face significantly higher risks during pregnancy.
“The traditional system was not designed for hundreds of thousands of women in America,” Rainford said. “That is part of why disparities are not going away.”
Black women in the U.S. are more than three times as likely to die from pregnancy-related causes as white women. Even with higher education and income, they experience worse outcomes, pointing to the role of systemic racism.
Enrich Health’s model includes group prenatal appointments, or “motherhood circles,” where expectant mothers meet together with clinicians and doulas. These sessions foster community support and allow for deeper engagement. “You just can’t do that in 15 or 20 minutes,” Rainford said.
Each patient is also paired with a doula, a practice shown to reduce C-sections, premature births, and maternal stress. The clinic tracks outcomes like birth weight and NICU admissions, comparing them to state averages.
Connecticut’s new Medicaid “maternity bundle” payment model helped make the clinic possible. It rewards providers for improving outcomes without penalizing them for falling short. “That is directly aligned with our revenue model,” Rainford said.
Rainford envisions Enrich Health expanding nationwide, offering a new standard of care rooted in equity.
See: “How one CT clinic is addressing racial disparities in maternal care” (October 30, 2025)
