For years, many smaller to mid-sized employers assumed fertility and family building benefits were out of reach. The need was there, but the cost uncertainty often was, too. That’s starting to change.

Smaller to mid-sized employers are under growing pressure to offer benefits that help them compete for talent, support employees through major life moments, and close gaps in care. But traditional utilization-based models have often made those benefits difficult to adopt, especially for employers that need more predictable costs.

For brokers, that shift creates a real opportunity.

The challenge isn’t demand, it’s the model

Employees increasingly expect support across life stages, from fertility and family building to pregnancy, parenting, and menopause. Smaller to mid-sized employers are feeling the same pressure as larger organizations. TriNet’s 2025 State of the Workplace report, focused on emerging trends in small and medium-size businesses, shows that employers are placing more focus on benefits as a way to compete for talent and support retention.

The report also found growing employer recognition of fertility coverage, with “extremely important” responses increasing to 29% from 25%, and “moderately important” responses increasing to 31% from 28%.

Larger employers have already responded. More than 40% now offer fertility benefits. At the same time, 1 in 6 people experience infertility, reinforcing the scale of need.

But smaller to mid-sized employers often face a different reality. Even when they want to offer expanded benefits, unpredictable utilization, high-cost claims, and administrative complexity can make adoption feel risky. As a result, many employers either delay offering fertility and family building benefits or settle for limited solutions that may not fully meet employee needs.

A more predictable path forward

The biggest shift in the market isn’t demand – it’s benefit design.

Fully insured, premium-funded models are making fertility and family building benefits more accessible by giving employers a way to offer meaningful support at a more predictable cost.

Instead of variable utilization-based spend or limited coverage in carrier-based models, employers can access a model designed to support:

• Fixed monthly costs
• More predictable budgeting
• Reduced financial exposure
• Streamlined implementation
• A guided member experience

That changes the conversation from, “Can we afford the risk?” to, “How can we offer a competitive benefit while controlling cost?”

Why this matters for brokers

For brokers, this creates a new way to bring value to smaller to mid-sized employer clients who may have been priced out of fertility and family building benefits in the past.

It can help you:

• Identify clients with unmet needs in your existing book
• Differentiate your offering in a competitive market
• Start new conversations around talent, retention, and benefits strategy
• Introduce a high-demand benefit category with a predictable funding model

Modern solutions, such as Progyny Select, are helping change what’s possible for smaller to mid-sized employers. Progyny Select is a first-of-its-kind, fully insured supplemental plan designed to bring Progyny’s proven fertility and family building model to smaller to mid-sized employers. It supports employees through pivotal life events, including fertility treatment, adoption, surrogacy, pregnancy, parenting, and menopause support.

Learn how to spot the opportunity

Curious which clients in your book may be a fit?

Download our guide, How to add a new revenue stream without adding risk, to learn how brokers are identifying opportunities, positioning the conversation, and helping smaller to mid-sized employers offer fertility and family building benefits with more predictable costs.

Progyny Select must be presented alongside major medical based on its licensure and additional participation criteria established by Progyny Select. Individuals selling Progyny Select need to be licensed in the State of Washington. The benefit is implemented with an effective date that aligns with employers’ major medical coverage. However, there is no medical plan integration or variation by medical carrier. When groups add Progyny Select, all employees/members who are 12 years and older, and enrolled in medical will be automatically enrolled in Progyny Select.

Progyny Select Supplemental insurance plans are insured by Progyny Health Insurance Company of Washington. All limited insurance policies contain exclusions and
limitations. For full details on coverage please refer to your specific plan documents, application, and certificate of coverage. Progyny Health Insurance Company of
Washington is located at 1102 A Street, Suite 300, Tacoma, WA 98402.

The post Brokers have a new opportunity in fertility and family building benefits appeared first on Progyny.

When we started Apryl, we made a very specific bet: fertility benefits would not stay a US-only conversation.

At the time, the US market was already moving. Employers were starting to understand that fertility and family-forming support was not a niche perk, but a benefit that mattered deeply to employees and could become a real differentiator for companies competing for talent.

Outside the US, the conversation looked very different.

In Europe and Asia, many employers had a different starting point. They were not used to funding healthcare directly in the same way US employers are, because public healthcare systems already existed. Fertility support was therefore often seen as something the healthcare system should cover – or, at best, something nice for an employer to add.

But when we looked closer, the gaps were obvious. The WHO estimates that 1 in 6 people globally experience infertility in their lifetime, a rate that holds consistent across high-, middle-, and low-income countries alike. Yet public coverage was often partial, narrow, or tied to specific eligibility criteria. In some countries, access depends on age, diagnosis, marital status, sexual orientation, or the type of treatment. In others, the treatment might be legal but expensive, difficult to access, or culturally sensitive to talk about. The result was a patchwork of support that left many women and families with unmet needs and employers without a clear way to bridge the gap.

That is why we built Apryl in 2019. We believed that global employers would eventually need a better way to support fertility and family forming outside the US – not by copying the US model, but by building something that understands local healthcare systems, laws, costs, and cultural realities. We knew that meaningful support would require deep regional expertise, because what works in one country can be inaccessible, inappropriate, or ineffective in another.

At the time, that required a lot of market education. We were fundraising, building the product, speaking to customers, supporting members, fixing edge cases, writing decks, and doing whatever needed to be done that day. It was intense and scrappy, but the conviction was clear: global companies would eventually need global fertility benefits, and those benefits would have to work locally.

When the buyer conversation changed

When Apryl joined Progyny two years ago, in June of 2024, one of the biggest changes was the buyer conversation.

Suddenly, we were much closer to U.S. decision makers responsible for global workforces. These were benefits leaders who already understood the value of fertility benefits because they had seen the impact in the U.S. Their question was not, “Why should we pay for this?” It was, “How do we make this work for our employees outside the U.S. as well?”

That shift mattered because it moved the conversation from education to execution.

Apryl had built the global-first foundation: the technology, local market knowledge, speed, and willingness to work through complicated country-by-country realities. Progyny brought employer trust, clinical expertise, operational discipline, and experience supporting large, complex clients.

Together, we were able to take something we had believed in for years and build it at a meaningful level of scale.

Why local reality matters

The reason global fertility and women’s health benefits are hard is that the details change everywhere.

By 2024, 55 percent of countries had fertility rates below the replacement level, according to the UN’s World Fertility 2024 report. Demand for fertility support is not a niche or future concern. It is already widespread, and public systems were not built to meet it at scale.

What is covered through public healthcare? Which treatments are legal? Which family structures are recognized? What does access actually look like? How much does care cost locally? How do culture, stigma, language, and regulation influence whether someone even feels comfortable asking for help?

A global benefit cannot answer those questions with one policy and a translated landing page.

That has been one of the biggest lessons from building Progyny Global: care only works when it reflects local reality. What works in Germany may not work in India. What is accessible in the UK may not be available in Brazil. Public healthcare coverage can look strong from the outside and still leave employees with real gaps when they actually need care.

For employers, this means fairness is more complicated than offering the same amount or the same policy everywhere. A meaningful benefit must account for local costs, laws, access, and culture.

For employees, it means they should not have to become experts in healthcare systems, reimbursement rules, treatment pathways, or country-specific regulations just to understand their options.

What changed in two years

Joining Progyny changed the pace immediately. It gave the original Apryl platform access to a much larger client base, deeper operational expertise, and the ability to build for global employers at a level we could not have reached alone.

In a short amount of time, we expanded from a fertility-focused platform into a comprehensive global women’s health offering:

• Support in 120+ countries
  Not as a theoretical global footprint, but as a benefit that works across different healthcare systems, legal frameworks, currencies, cost levels, and cultural expectations.
• 14 languages – growing to 30 by the end of 2026
  We built language support into every layer of the experience, from the platform to live PCA consultations, because understanding your options clearly should never be a barrier to care.
• Three connected programs: fertility and family forming, pregnancy and postpartum, and menopause
  This has been an important evolution. Women’s health does not happen in isolated moments, so the support should not be built that way either.
• The Progyny Card
  One of the biggest barriers in fertility care is the upfront cost. The Progyny Card helps reduce that burden by making it easier for members to access care without paying large amounts out of pocket first.
• Country-specific customizations
  This is probably the least visible work, but some of the most important. Local compliance, cultural sensitivities, benefit design, reimbursement flows, and healthcare realities often determine whether a benefit actually works in practice.

This is where the Apryl-Progyny combination has been most powerful: we were able to move faster and build at greater scale, while staying close to the local details that made the original platform valuable in the first place.

What this means now

What should be clear by now is that global women’s health benefits are no longer an edge case. They are becoming part of how serious employers think about supporting their workforce.

But the answer cannot be a U.S. benefit exported into other markets. And it also cannot be a loose collection of local exceptions that becomes impossible to manage. It has to be something more practical: one global framework, with enough local intelligence to actually work country by country.

That is the space Progyny Global is building in.

What I love is that the original bet behind Apryl still sits at the center of the work. The difference is that it now has the scale, experience, and employer trust of Progyny behind it.

That is what Progyny Global represents today: a new standard for global women’s health benefits. And in many ways, we are still at the beginning.

The post From Startup Vision to Global Scale: Two Years of Progyny Global appeared first on Progyny.

As employers prepare for 2027 renewals, many will default to another annual cycle without closely examining whether their current programs are actually delivering value. But in a period of rising healthcare costs and increased scrutiny from finance and executive teams, renewal without review has become a growing risk.

For years, many benefits strategies were designed primarily around access and retention. Today, that’s no longer enough. Rising healthcare costs are forcing employers to take a more disciplined approach – one that requires benefits strategies to be measurable, defensible, and actively managed.

The question is no longer, “What do we offer?” it’s, “What is it delivering clinically, operationally, and financially?”

Too many vendors still rely on access metrics, enrollment figures, app downloads, or satisfaction scores that do little to explain whether a program is improving outcomes or reducing costs. In today’s environment, employers need a clear view of performance.

As Progyny’s 2027 benefits guide advises, a strong potential partner should be able to demonstrate:

• Clear attribution of costs savings and avoided high-cost claims
• Measurable improvements in clinical outcomes
• Transparent reporting methods
• A direct connection between care delivery and long-term cost containment

More vendors doesn’t always mean more value

Women’s health benefits that layer fertility, maternity, menopause, and other point solutions may expand access, but it rarely improves coordination, accountability, or cost control.

The women’s health benefits market is increasingly crowded with vendors that address a single issue or life stage, and while each may solve an important problem, together, they often create a fragmented experience for employees and a difficult ecosystem for employers to manage.

Vendor sprawl can lead to:

• Overlapping costs and redundant programs
• Fractured member experience
• Reduced visibility into what is and isn’t working
• Unclear ownership and limited accountability
• Greater administrative burden for HR and benefits teams

The result is often a complex benefits strategy that looks comprehensive on paper but makes it much harder to understand where cost, risk, and performance truly sit.

Ask yourself:

• Is vendor complexity masking underperformance?
• Are multiple solutions working together or against each other?
• Are we managing so many vendors we can’t hold them all fully accountable?
• Are we adding programs without improving outcomes?

Your biggest cost drivers may be hiding in plain sight

Fertility, maternity, and menopause are among the largest and least visible drivers of healthcare costs. When these needs are managed through disconnected vendors, employers often miss opportunities for early intervention, coordinated care, and prevention of avoidable high-cost claims.

An integrated approach can reduce these costs by improving care coordination, surfacing risk earlier, and creating a more connected experience across every stage of women’s health.

Programs that actively coordinate care across fertility, maternity, menopause, and related health needs are better positioned to improve outcomes while reducing long-term cost and operational complexity.

Five questions every employer should ask before renewing

As you prepare for renewal conversations or evaluate new vendors, pressure-test your current strategy with these five questions:

1. What are the greatest sources of cost and risk within this program?
2. How do you attribute ROI and cost savings to measurable clinical outcomes?
3. Are your reported results based on all members, or only a subset of data?
4. How do you coordinate care across fertility maternity, menopause, and related needs to reduce fragmentation?
5. What ongoing reporting, benchmarking, and performance reviews do you provide between renewals?

The strongest partners should be able to answer these questions clearly and confidently.

What accountability should look like

Accountability isn’t a once-a-year conversation. Strong vendor partnerships should include:

• Standardized reporting tied to clear outcomes
• Member-level insights and benchmarking
• Ongoing performance reviews, not just renewal discussions
• Transparency into where costs are rising, risks are emerging, and intervention is working
• A commitment to continuous optimization over time

Employers should expect more than selective reporting and success stories. Strong partners provide transparent, member-level reporting, benchmark performance over time, and demonstrate results across their full population, not just a small sample. Progyny independently validates outcomes across all member data rather than relying on self-reported results or a subset of members. Transparency gives employers confidence that reported outcomes are real, repeatable, and directly connected to value.

Cost management requires active partnership, not passive purchasing

As healthcare costs rise, employers can’t afford a “set it and forget it” approach to benefits. The most effective strategies actively manage care delivery, simplify the vendor ecosystem, and focus on long-term sustainability.

Organizations that take a proactive, integrated approach are better positioned to control costs, improve clinical outcomes, reduce operational complexity, and defend benefits investments to finance and executive teams.

Before your next renewal conversation, ask whether your current partners are helping you control cost, reduce risk, and deliver measurable value – or are they making it harder to see what’s working and what isn’t.

Ready to test your current approach?

Learn how benefits teams are containing costs and transforming women’s health with Progyny’s integrated model.

And, when you’re ready to start evaluating your fertility and women’s health vendors, check out our strategic benefits planning guide.

The post Don’t just renew—review! Key questions for vendor accountability appeared first on Progyny.

It can start with waking up at 3 a.m. and not being able to fall back asleep. Or suddenly feeling more anxious than usual. Maybe you’re forgetting words in the middle of a conversation, struggling to focus at work, or noticing your periods have become less predictable.

Symptoms aren’t always obvious, and, as a result, many women spend years wondering what’s happening to their bodies before realizing the answer may be perimenopause or menopause.

Could this be menopause? 

Menopause is officially defined as 12 consecutive months without a period, and it typically occurs between ages 45-55 though it can sometimes occur earlier in life for a certain proportion of women. The transition time leading up to menopause, known as perimenopause, can begin years earlier — sometimes as early as your late 30s or early 40s. During this time, changing hormone levels can affect nearly every system in the body, and symptoms can include:

• Trouble concentrating, brain fog, or difficulty finding words 

• Anxiety, irritability, or depression 

• Difficulty sleeping, insomnia, or waking up in the middle of the night 

• Joint pain or body aches 

• Irregular periods or changes in your cycle 

• Hot flashes or night sweats 

• Vaginal dryness or discomfort 

• Heart palpitations or a racing feeling in your chest 

Many women don’t realize these symptoms may be connected. Instead, they can seem unrelated, and they’re treated that way.

Why so many women are left guessing 

Women often seek help symptom by symptom and specialist by specialist, spending months – or years – trying to get answers. Brain fog may lead to a neurologist. Anxiety or mood changes may lead to a therapist or psychiatrist. Sleep problems may lead to a sleep study. Irregular periods may lead to repeated OB-GYN visits. And heart palpitations may result in a visit to a cardiologist or even the emergency room.

The problem isn’t that these symptoms aren’t taken seriously – it’s that they’re rarely looked at together as one whole picture. Progyny refers to this as fragmented care, and it can create unnecessary costs, frustration, and delayed treatment.

Why menopause care often falls short 

One reason so many women struggle to get answers is that the healthcare system isn’t designed to support menopause care well. Despite affecting more than 50 million women in the U.S., most providers have very little training on how to diagnose and treat it. In fact, only 6.8% of primary care providers (including ob/gyn; internal and family medicine physicians) feel adequately prepared to help women manage menopause symptoms.

As a result, women are often told they’re simply experiencing stress, anxiety, burnout, or aging, and they’re offered treatment one symptom at a time. When care is provided through a system of trial and error, women often pay the price in time, cost, and quality of life.

Menopause doesn’t stay outside of work 

When menopause symptoms go unsupported, the effects don’t stay at home. Sleep disruption, anxiety, brain fog, and difficulty concentrating can make it harder to stay focused, participate confidently in meetings, or keep up with the demands of work.

Nearly 11% of women report missing work due to symptoms, and nearly 1 in 5 women have considered leaving their jobs entirely because of the impact menopause has had on their lives and careers.

Menopause isn’t just a health issue — it’s a workplace issue.  

What good menopause care looks like 

Good menopause care should help you understand what’s happening, connect you with providers who are trained in evidence-based best practice menopause care, and give you support between visits. It should include:  

• Access to menopause-trained providers who understand the full range of symptoms 

• A coordinated care plan that addresses both physical and emotional health 

• Coaching and support between appointments 

• Education that helps you recognize symptoms earlier 

• Treatment options that may include hormone therapy, non-hormonal medications, nutrition support, sleep support, and mental health care 

• Help navigating next steps 

Progyny’s Menopause and Midlife Care solution is designed around this comprehensive approach. Members have access to menopause-trained providers, ongoing clinical coaching, and personalized treatment plans that address the root cause of symptoms, not just the symptoms themselves. This holistic approach, combining education, access, and integrated care, results in faster recognition of symptoms, fewer misdiagnoses, and better outcomes.

You don’t have to figure this out alone 

If you’ve been wondering whether what you’re experiencing could be menopause, trust yourself. You’re not imagining it, you’re not alone, and you deserve care that supports you during this stage of life and helps you feel like yourself again.

Better menopause care may already be available through your employer benefits. Talk to your HR or benefits team to learn whether your organization offers Progyny’s Menopause and Midlife Care benefit.

Start the conversation in your workplace with these resources:

• Menopause support in the workplace: A guide for employers 

• Menopause: Frequently asked questions  

The post Is this menopause? Why so many women are left guessing, and what to do next appeared first on Progyny.

The women’s health benefits market has expanded rapidly and become increasingly fragmented. As workforce needs have evolved, many benefits leaders have found themselves caught in a cycle of adding new vendors in an effort to keep up. 

While well-intentioned, this approach has created new challenges. Vendor management has become complex, and the impact of these solutions is difficult to measure due to siloed platforms and a lack of member-specific outcomes data. 

This challenge is especially pronounced in women’s health — a complex, longitudinal area of care that spans multiple life stages, conditions, and care settings. Without a more integrated approach, it becomes even harder to deliver meaningful outcomes or understand what’s truly working. 

Why fragmented women’s health benefits are falling short 

While many vendors have expanded to offer broader solutions, most still operate within disconnected systems and experiences. The result is a fragmented ecosystem that places the burden of coordination on both employees and benefits leaders. 

For employers, managing these solutions can be complex: 

• Multiple vendor relationships, contracts, eligibility rules, and claims processes

• Limited visibility into outcomes and siloed data, making it difficult to assess value and ROI

• Increased administrative burden from managing disconnected experiences

For employees, fragmentation can make an already emotional and complex experience feel even more challenging. According to Progyny research, many report spending more time than expected trying to understand costs and coverage, navigate authorization requirements, and manage treatment logistics, all while facing the stress of potentially spending money on ineffective treatments or medications.  

Increased costs and reduced outcomes 

When care isn’t coordinated, employees are more likely to delay treatment, disengage from available resources, or miss opportunities for earlier intervention. Disconnected fertility and maternity support can contribute to higher-risk pregnancies, more avoidable complications, and increased medical spend.  

These poorer outcomes drive higher costs for both employees and employers. At the same time, siloed programs make it difficult for employers to identify trends, intervene earlier, and understand what is driving costs across their population. 

Integrated care models create a different dynamic. With connected care journeys, employers gain a more complete view of member needs and can better support earlier, more proactive care. 

The future is coordinated, outcomes-driven care

A unified women’s health benefit influences employee satisfaction, productivity, retention, and workforce participation. It also shapes how employees perceive their employer and whether they feel supported during critical life moments.  

The most effective models share several characteristics: comprehensive care across life stages, human-led support, transparent reporting, and accountability for outcomes. 

Progyny’s integrated solution delivers this through: 

• One trusted partner across fertility, maternity, menopause, and related care needs

• Access to specialized, high quality provider networks

• Human-led care, navigation, and coaching

• Technology-enabled navigation and insights 

• Robust, transparent data, reporting, and performance measurement 

• Accountability for both member experience and clinical outcomes 

Progyny members work with a dedicated Progyny Care Advocate who understands their history, helps them navigate care, and connects them to the right providers and support at the right time. 

The result is a better member experience and stronger outcomes. Progyny members experience: 

The future of women’s health benefits is not a collection of disconnected programs. It’s an integrated strategy designed to improve employee experience, strengthen outcomes, and deliver measurable business value. Employers that make the shift now will be better positioned to support their workforce — and compete for talent — in the years ahead.  

The post The future of women’s health benefits is integrated care appeared first on Progyny.

I’ve worked in digital health long enough to have witnessed how positively transformative technology can be — when it’s done right. I’ve also seen just as many times how sideways things can go when innovation is rushed, untethered from purpose, and disconnected from the people it should serve.

Nowhere is this tension more visible than in today’s race to bring AI solutions to market. No company sets out to build AI that makes healthcare less human. No executive stands up in a boardroom and says, “Let’s dilute empathy. Let’s make this journey feel more transactional.” And yet, that’s what I see happening far too often. Chat-only front doors replacing relationship-based care. IVRs optimized for speed and deflection rather than continuity. Patients reaching out in vulnerable moments, only to start over with someone new every time.

But the issue isn’t the AI itself. It’s the absence of a North Star.

When technology is deployed without a guiding purpose, efficiency quietly overtakes empathy. What’s pitched as a pursuit of convenience and efficiency ends up eroding quality of care and member trust.

Progyny’s North Star: Member First, Always

For the past decade, every technology decision at Progyny has been run through the same lens: does this enable a more human experience and a better outcome?

We’ve been unwavering in our belief that all healthcare experiences require empathy and deep-seated trust. That trust has two dimensions: the human connection members feel with their care team, and the confidence that their most sensitive data is always protected. We view security, privacy, and thoughtful compliance as core to our member-first commitment — not just legal obligations. And nowhere is that more important than in women’s health and family building, where member experiences are deeply personal journeys requiring a trusted, relationship-based approach to care.

Mark Weiser, longtime head of Xerox PARC, captured something essential about technology that I’ve returned to often throughout my career. He said, “The most profound technologies are those that disappear, weaving themselves into the fabric of everyday life until they are indistinguishable from it.” Technology, he insisted, “should create calm, not demand our focus.”

Today, AI that disappears — that doesn’t demand our focus — is almost hard to imagine. But that’s precisely what we’re building toward at Progyny: a platform where AI is woven into the fabric of care, bringing more empathy, clarity, and calm to every member interaction.

Too often in our industry, AI efforts fall for the allure of scale and speed, prioritizing what’s easy to measure over what actually matters. Automation rates become a core KPI. The result, ironically, is a model that moves us backward not forward: fragmented, low-touch, impersonal experiences that may appear to be modern but feel disappointingly familiar.

That’s not the experience women deserve. Or the kind of healthcare experience any of us want.

AI in Service to Relationship-Based Care

If we want healthcare to feel more human, can AI really help? Can we design it to bring people closer rather than push us apart? At Progyny, we believe we can – and must.

The beating heart of our care model is the Progyny Care Advocate, or PCA — a dedicated care partner who guides members through every step of their journey. Our investments in AI are squarely focused on enabling them to deliver the most human, most impactful care experience possible.

We’re currently pursuing that goal across three categories:

1. Alleviating administrative burden. Healthcare is mired in administrative work — authorizations, lab orders, leave policies. When AI supports those processes, the member experience improves and costs come down. We recently showed a large client that their utilization with Progyny increased while costs went down — not through revenue cycle machinations, but through a system that simply helps more people access the right care at the right time.
2. Making every conversation smarter. Our challenge in today’s data-rich environment isn’t access to information — it’s making it useful in the moment. AI can surface what’s relevant so our PCAs have a complete, timely picture of a member’s journey before a call even starts. The result: PCAs enter every conversation fully informed and prepared to help. We’ve talked forever in healthcare about enabling providers to work “at the top of their license.” This may be the moment when we move past talk and finally make it happen.
3. Reaching new levels of quality and accountability. Most so-called quality assurance is little more than a sampling exercise — a handful of calls reviewed weeks after the fact. AI enables clinical and service quality reviews across every interaction, in near real-time. That’s a radically different kind of feedback model for driving continuous improvement.

When you remove administrative noise, surface the right information, and create time and space for care partners to be fully present, something remarkable happens: real conversations, real moments of connection, real relationships built on trust.

Consider this story of a Progyny member who entered care with a history of pregnancy-related trauma. When her baby arrived early at 34 and a half weeks due to an infection and spent 2 weeks in the NICU, her PCA was there to guide and assure her. During a postpartum check-in, when her PCA took the time the moment called for — asking questions, empathizing, and offering thoughts, the member broke down — realizing for the first time that she’d been in denial about experiencing postpartum depression. Her PCA was again there for her, connecting her to resources and support. The member later wrote to the PCA to say she’s not sure how she would have made it through those dark days without her support.

That breakthrough moment would never have happened with a chatbot. And it didn’t happen because of AI. But it was made possible by everything AI was quietly doing in the background: clearing distractions, providing context, and “creating calm” and space for human connection.

Humanity: The True Competitive Edge

This is an exciting moment for women’s health and family building. We’re finally seeing the kind of investment, innovation, and healthy competition this critical space deserves. Across the industry, companies are moving fast to stake out their AI story with new copilots, chat interfaces, and automation layers.

This is great news — we’ll all be lifted by this rising tide of competition and investment. But without a North Star, I fear much of that innovation will yield more of what we don’t want and can’t afford: care that’s impersonal, transactional, and less effective. Impressive technology that, by removing the human connection we all crave, fails the people it is meant to serve .

The future of women’s health won’t be won by whoever automates the fastest or launches the most features. It will be won by whoever stays most relentlessly focused on the member — applying every technological innovation in service of moments like the one above: a member, at her most vulnerable, finally feeling seen and supported.

The post AI Can Make Healthcare More Human—If We Design It That Way appeared first on Progyny.

Healthcare is getting smarter.

AI is transforming how care is delivered, helping analyze data, identify patterns, and guide decision-making in ways that weren’t possible just a few years ago. In women’s and family health, these technologies promise earlier insights, more personalized recommendations, and more connected experiences across fertility, pregnancy, parenting, and menopause.

That progress is meaningful. But it also raises an important question: as healthcare becomes more intelligent, is it also becoming more effective for the people it serves?

Because in women’s and family health, tech alone isn’t enough. It doesn’t account for what it feels like to navigate a pregnancy loss, to have symptoms dismissed for years, or to face the uncertainty and isolation when trying to conceive shifts from something expected to something uncertain.

Women’s health isn’t a point solution

Women’s and family health spans years, often decades, of evolving needs. From fertility and pregnancy to parenting and menopause, these aren’t isolated clinical events. They’re interconnected experiences that require coordination, continuity, and support over time.

For example, a fertility journey doesn’t end with a positive pregnancy test. It can carry into high-risk pregnancy care, postpartum recovery, and even long-term health considerations. Similarly, symptoms dismissed earlier in life can resurface later as more complex conditions, requiring a deeper understanding of a person’s history.

The complexity behind the clinical and emotional decisions people are making at each stage is best met with both tech and human-centered support.

When benefits treat these stages as separate events rather than a continuous journey, it can lead to missed risk signals, more reactive care, and a more fragmented member experience.

Where AI excels—and where human-centered care matters most

AI is improving access to information and helping streamline care. It can surface insights, identify patterns, and suggest the next best actions grounded in clinical guidelines and member-specific context. And while it certainly unlocks meaningful new capabilities and reach, it’s best done in connection with human expertise, care, and support.

1. Context

AI is great at recommending next steps based on data, surfacing signals, and suggesting the next best actions grounded in clinical guidelines and member-specific context. These recommendations are most effective when they’re interpreted and applied within the context of each individual’s needs.

Human expertise is critical to fully extend support and understand context—why someone may hesitate, what constraints they’re facing, or how personal, financial, and cultural factors shape decisions.

In women’s and family health, context directly impacts outcomes, and translating insights into the right action requires both technology and expert guidance.

2. Trust

Decisions across fertility, pregnancy, and menopause are complex and deeply personal. Trust isn’t built through recommendations alone. It’s built through consistent, informed guidance and the ability to ask questions, validate concerns, and make decisions with confidence.

3. Advocacy

AI is able to guide someone through options and surface the right next steps, and translating those insights into the right decisions and actions often requires an additional layer of advocacy and support.

In high-stakes moments, support is best when it can extend beyond direction to active guidance and advocacy.

Navigation is only part of the solution

AI has made it easier to navigate healthcare, helping people find providers, understand options, and move through the system more efficiently. That matters. But navigation alone doesn’t ensure better outcomes or better experiences.

Knowing where to go doesn’t mean someone feels confident in what to do next, especially when decisions are complex or emotionally charged. That’s where human support becomes essential—bridging the gap between insight and action.

The limitations of a purely digital model

As healthcare becomes more technology-driven, care is often treated as a coordination problem. How does women’s and family health best fit into these workflows? How are we creating the right workflows and environments for women’s health to thrive?

When care becomes too transactional, context can be overlooked, decisions can become oversimplified, and member experience can suffer.

Engagement alone isn’t a proxy for outcomes. Care models need to be designed to support both. Because no model can predict what matters most to a person in that moment.

AI works best when it supports care

AI has a clear role to play in improving women’s and family health. It can help identify risks earlier, streamline access to care, and surface insights that improve decision-making. Used well, it can make care more efficient, more personalized, and more scalable.

When applied thoughtfully, AI is able to surface signals earlier and anticipate member needs, enabling more proactive, anticipatory, and personalized care across the member journey. This creates an opportunity not just for better coordination, but for earlier intervention and stronger outcomes.

This also reduces the inefficiencies and added costs that often come from fragmented, point-solution approaches. Its value is maximized when it supports a broader care model, not when it replaces it.

The most effective approach combines technology with human-centered care:

• Continuous relationships: Dedicated support that understands the full member journey and provides continuity across life stages
• Integrated guidance: Clinical, emotional, and practical needs addressed together, not in isolation
• Active support and advocacy: Helping members navigate decisions, interpret care, and access the right resources at the right time

This allows care teams to focus on higher-value, human-led support—guiding decisions, building trust, and supporting members through complex moments.

In this model, technology enhances care delivery and frees clinical experts and care advocates to focus on what matters most: supporting the person behind the data.

The bottom line

AI will continue to play a growing role in healthcare, and in women’s and family health, better technology works best when paired with the right support. Because the most important question isn’t just, “What’s the next step?” It’s also, “Is there the right support in place to help someone take it?”

At Progyny, we believe the future of women’s and family health is both intelligent and deeply human, where technology helps anticipate needs, and people provide the context, trust, and advocacy that turn insight into meaningful outcomes.  

To learn more about how Progyny supports women’s and family health, connect with our team.

The post What AI gets right—and what it can’t replace in women’s and family health appeared first on Progyny.

Nine months of pregnancy build up to the delivery, the climax of a long period of anticipation, change, and growth. With so much focus on conceiving, then fetal development, weekly physical changes, and regular prenatal visits, 40 weeks starts to look a lot like the finish line. On the contrary, maternal care is only just beginning!

With the challenges and uncertainties the “fourth trimester” can bring, it’s essential that women receive physical, mental, and emotional support during this monumental transition. Postpartum care is a necessary extension of prenatal care, serving to support women’s bodily and mental health needs and grow their confidence through recovery.

In the U.S., one in every six dollars of employer spend on inpatient healthcare goes toward maternity services, and a single pregnancy episode (prenatal care, childbirth, and postpartum care) in the employer-sponsored insurance population costs on average about $25k per pregnancy, underscoring the importance of comprehensive postpartum care. Supporting birthing parents before, during, and after delivery improves maternal health and wellbeing and drives stronger outcomes like lower costs and reduced complications. And focusing on foundational, long-term health enables a more supported workforce.

Postpartum specialty support

In those first few months postpartum, women may experience both physical and mental health challenges. Physical recovery is compromised by complications such as infection, hypertension, or challenges with healing and breastfeeding, while about one in five experience a mental health disorder like postpartum depression or anxiety.

A trusted community is critical for empowering mothers with both clinical support and postpartum education.

Progyny anchors care in continuity and trust with a dedicated nurse Progyny Care Advocate (PCA), who has experience in labor and delivery and postpartum, for each member. The relationship provides personalized, one-on-one, ongoing monthly support for members through fertility, pregnancy, postpartum, and beyond, guiding navigation and education about treatment, providers, and benefits. Members don’t have to retell their story—their PCA knows it, knows them, bringing both comfort and empowerment.

OBs and midwives

Members have options for OBs and midwives, which they select based on pregnancy risks, personal preference, hospital affiliation, or other factors. Postpartum, these providers monitor for preeclampsia and other health risks, as well as provide emotional support and information about contraception. Most importantly, these long-term providers listen, take concerns seriously, and explain things in a clear way to facilitate educated decision-making, ensuring mom and baby are healthy and getting the clinical support they need.

Doulas

Doulas provide additional support to postpartum moms, offering non-clinical guidance through regular check-ins via telehealth or in-person care. They offer newborn or maternal education, benefits and system navigation, and next steps on the care journey including postpartum visits. Doula care is associated with decreased rates of preterm births, C-sections, and postpartum depression. In fact, outcomes improvement has been so significant, a major insurance company just added a nationwide doula benefit, with plans to make access widespread for all its employer-sponsored plans in 2027.

Lactation consultants

Lactation consultants (IBCLCs) are also vital members of the postpartum care team, supporting and educating mothers on what I often see to be an emotionally charged journey. From initial instruction on latch, pumping, or supply issues, to returning to work and introducing formula or solid foods, these feeding experts are trained to collaborate with team members and support what is best for each mother. IBCLCs support breastfeeding goals, and new parents are relieved to discover that they also support reality. Whether it’s exclusive breastfeeding, combination feeding, or formula, the priority is ensuring parents are informed and feel confident in their decision-making.

Mental health matters

With the postpartum period’s major hormonal, emotional, and social shifts, mental health support from the care village is just as important as the physical recovery. In the U.S., approximately 85% of those affected by maternal depression during the postpartum period don’t get treated. This huge gap underscores why screening—and integrated care pathways that proactively connect members to support—is critical to improving outcomes.

Instead of treating mental health like something that “goes wrong,” Progyny believes in routine screenings built into the program structure. By removing the stigma, we don’t force anyone to raise her hand or remain in the untreated majority. One of our members was recently struggling, and a PCA assessment right away identified postpartum depression. Thankfully, because of this proactive screening and warm transfer to the appropriate care, she got the help she needed quickly. We can influence outcomes by addressing challenges before they escalate. By ensuring members feel cared for and supported clinically, mentally, and emotionally, a positive postpartum experience and stronger foundation for long-term family health becomes possible.

The team approach

While each care team member addresses a different aspect of postpartum health and recovery, the collaborative, cohesive nature of the village helps moms feel thoroughly cared for. Each specialty is connected and communicating, while listening to the patient at the center. The goal is for mother and baby to be healthy, and for members to be empowered to advocate for their evolving needs in the months after birth.

The entire postpartum experience is smoother when the birthing parent’s physical, mental, and emotional needs are integrated in the greater context of health and well-being. Progyny’s approach aligns not only pre-conception, prenatal, postpartum, and menopause care, it takes into context each member’s unique experience in the broader healthcare benefits ecosystem. In a crowded landscape of disparate care services and apps, we remain committed to supporting members through evidence-based, compassionate care—and helping members, providers, and employers navigate the incredibly meaningful time following the baby’s arrival.

For more information, view our webinar on postpartum care.

The post Postpartum Care: Supporting Health, Empowering Families, and Embracing the Value of Doulas appeared first on Progyny.

By Russ Freyman, Group Vice President, Mid-Market Sales, Progyny 

Family building benefits have become table stakes. But for mid-sized employers, they’re also becoming a major source of complexity and risk, as benefit leaders are being asked to deliver enterprise-level benefits without enterprise-level resources.

If this isn’t difficult enough, today’s employee base is more informed and opinionated than ever about their health and wellness needs. I’ve spoken to candidates and former colleagues, for example, who won’t even consider joining an organization that does not adequately support family building.

Meeting the needs of employees while ensuring benefit programs do not break the bank has led many organizations to add a patchwork of point solutions, each of which comes with their own set of promises. Unfortunately, these additions also create unintended complexity, like:

• Operational strain, as HR teams juggle multiple vendors and solutions;
• Limited visibility into what’s actually driving healthcare spend;
• Inconsistent employee experiences, forcing individuals to navigate complicated, high‑stakes decisions on their own.

And when the data from various solutions doesn’t talk to one another, it becomes just about impossible to:

• Evaluate quality;
• Identify opportunities for early intervention;
• Predict and manage future costs.

Fragmentation doesn’t only create administrative burden for under‑sized HR teams; it also increases financial risk, limits cost predictability, and leaves employees searching for the right level of care during some of the most emotional and complicated moments in their lives—when clarity and support matter most.

Most mid-sized employers with whom I speak recognize these issues, but unraveling the status quo and finding something better is not necessarily simple. This is where an integrated approach makes a meaningful difference. By bringing women’s health, family building, and high‑risk maternity together, Progyny can help mid-sized employers reduce complexity and program spend while delivering a more seamless experience for employees.

Want a deeper look?

Dive deeper here and download The case for an integrated model explainer for a clear breakdown of today’s challenges and a framework for simplifying family building and women’s health benefits.

The post The growing complexity of women’s health and family building benefits for mid-sized employers appeared first on Progyny.

This webinar featured:

• Lissa Kline, LCSW, Senior VP at Progyny

• Dr. Whitney Booker, MD, MS, Maternal & Fetal Medicine

• Melanie Silverman, IBCLC, RD, Chief Clinical Officer at Pacify

• Rachel Carbonneau, CD, CPD, VP of Doula Programs at Pacify

Understanding Care Specialties

Each care specialty serves a different purpose with one shared goal: to ensure you and your baby are healthy, safe, and comfortable.

Your OB and picking the right one for you:

An OB is responsible for monitoring the health of both the birthing parent and the baby, identifying complications, and helping families understand what’s normal versus what’s concerning. Beyond medical checks, OBs also play a vital role in emotional reassurance and mental health support. When searching for an OB, finding a provider who you trust and can have open communication with is key. If something doesn’t feel right, getting a second opinion or choosing to switch providers is normal.

It’s important to note that there are different types of providers you may engage with, each bringing their own strengths and backgrounds. These include different levels of physicians (residents and attendings), nurse practitioners, physician assistants (PAs), and midwives. Understanding the strengths of each provider and how they’re supporting you can help you feel more confident and at ease. Your OB and clinical providers are also there to continue supporting you in the postpartum phase.

The role of a doula and the different types:

There are a wide range of doulas depending on the type of care you’re looking for and what part of your journey you’re in. From fertility, pregnancy, and birth to postpartum, doulas can provide both in-person and virtual services. Doulas offer emotional, mental, and physical support across your journey. They help families navigate the healthcare system, prepare questions for providers, clarify goals at each stage, and build confidence.

Doulas do not serve the same purpose as midwives. While midwives are clinical providers, doulas do not provide medical checks. Instead, they act as coaches who advocate for the birthing parent and families throughout each stage. They are compassionate guides who help clarify goals, and choosing a doula you trust and connect with is vital to feeling heard and supported.

The role of a lactation consultant:

Lactation consultants support families even before feeding begins by providing guidance on feeding basics, setting expectations, and connecting families to the right resources. Feeding can be an emotional experience, and having a compassionate professional guide can ease the mental burden. After birth, unexpected challenges may arise, and lactation consultants can help with latching issues, pain, milk supply concerns, and formula-related questions.

Lactation consultants are trained to support weaning and formula feeding and should never shame families for choosing a path different from breastfeeding.

Pregnancy: What should you expect and how can you prepare?

Pregnancy is a different experience for everyone, and the experience also differs for each pregnancy. Building your care village with a team of professionals is important but talking to trusted friends and family if you’re struggling emotionally, or talking to a therapist or counselor is valuable to support your holistic care. Check in early for your mental health and well-being, or if you’re the supportive partner, friend, or family member, offer a compassionate hand or listening ear when they need it.

What to expect at your first OB appointment, and throughout pregnancy:

Your first visit can be information-heavy, so bringing something to write with or coming in with questions can be helpful. Your provider will review medical history, explain testing options, ultrasound schedules, and set expectations for care. Being comfortable with your provider and not being afraid to openly communicate with them and ask what the purpose of a lab or test is for can help ease anxiety.

After the first appointment, your provider will monitor you and your baby’s health, including your mental and emotional well-being. New parents may develop anxiety or mood swings as a symptom of hormone fluctuations, sleep disturbances, or reminders of past grief. Along with routine blood pressure checks, ultrasounds, and labs, monitoring your emotional well-being is just as important as the physical.

How can families advocate for equitable, respectful care?

Advocacy starts with asking questions, requesting clarification, and speaking up when something doesn’t feel right. Key strategies include bringing a support person to visits, requesting a translator when needed, writing down questions between appointments, finding a provider who you feel comfortable and safe with to ask questions when something doesn’t feel right, and incorporating a doula who will help advocate for you throughout your journey.

Translating your birth preferences with the help of a doula:

Doulas help families figure out what their birth preferences are: whether that’s more intervention earlier, more medical oversight, delaying procedures that aren’t immediately necessary, and so on. A large part of the doula role is communication with your care team, who will help translate your preferences so you can receive care that feels good to you. There might be additional cultural barriers, language barriers, etc. where your doula can step in and make sure you are fully heard.

How expecting parents can prepare for feeding:

Getting the right resources and reliable education while pregnant is essential for managing expectations while feeding. Understanding milk physiology and newborn feeding patterns helps to alleviate early worries.

Postpartum: What should families expect in the fourth trimester?  

What postpartum medical care looks like, and acknowledging postpartum depression:

The postpartum experience varies widely based on delivery and number of births, and physical recovery may take anywhere from weeks to months. Your OB can help manage expectations and make sure you’re recovering well.

Having a newborn can bring a whirlwind of emotions. You might be sleep deprived, feel physically exhausted, feel overwhelmed, or feel isolated. If you’re struggling postpartum, reaching out to a mental health professional is completely normal, and letting your care provider know what’s going on can help you determine if you’re struggling with postpartum depression.

The doula’s role in postpartum:

Doulas are often recognized for the birth, but they’re here for every phase through pregnancy and postpartum. You can reach out to your doulas for virtual appointments, where they can offer encouragement, give you resources, help you connect with other resources within your community, and validate the feelings that you’re having. Postpartum doulas can also provide in-home care in certain cases, and help with guidance on newborn care, overnight support, and more.

Lactation support after birth:

After birth, lactation consultants help families take feeding “one session at a time.” They normalize early challenges, help parents problem‑solve, and prioritize mental health. Sometimes reassurance or flexibility, such as pausing breastfeeding or adjusting methods, brings significant relief. If you’re having anxiety about feeding your baby, going to your OB and pediatrician visits to know your baby is at a healthy weight can help ease unnecessary mental stress.

If you are a Progyny member, know that Progyny is always here to support you across life’s milestones, and you can access additional resources at progyny.com/education.

Progyny members can contact Progyny at 888.597.5065 or via their employer specific phone number to learn more about your employer-specific benefit and available care options.

The post Your Pregnancy and Postpartum Care Village appeared first on Progyny.