Under new billing codes effective Jan. 1, 2027, physicians providing maternity care will be able to report visits and services related to pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum care with codes that support evidence-based maternity care and improve data quality.
On June 8, the American Medical Association announced a new batch of CPT codes that will let physicians bill for certain maternal care services individually across four separately identified phases of care: antepartum, labor management, delivery, and postpartum.
As of this writing, insurers have not yet adopted the new set of codes. However, Carra Benson, the Texas Medical Association’s director of physician payment services, says health plans will most likely change their policies close to the Jan. 1 implementation date. If payers adopt the codes, physicians will be required to use them when documenting maternal care. TMA is monitoring for updates.
Currently, physicians are paid for maternity care through one global, bundled payment representing nine months of care as a single service, which AMA said, “simplifies billing, but obscures care variation and complexity.” The new approach aims to “better reflect modern obstetric practice” and “create the data foundation necessary to better attribute maternal care and support the complexities of team-based care throughout a patient’s journey.”
According to AMA and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists – which collaborated with the association and others to form the code revisions – the new codes more accurately reflect the care obstetrician-gynecologists provide, as expecting patients are:
- More likely to have complex medical and social needs necessitating care in multiple settings from multiple health care professionals across the four labor and delivery care phases;
- Often transferred from rural hospitals to facilities equipped to manage higher-risk obstetric and neonatal cases, which today’s bundled codes do not adequately reflect; and
- Likely to receive labor management and postpartum care that has evolved in intensity, duration, and complexity outside of what current codes were designed to describe.
To help physicians prepare to implement the coding revisions, AMA released the CPT 2027 codes for maternity care services ahead of the standard release schedule and is providing early education and resources on the revisions. For more information, see the AMA’s related webpage.
Last Updated On
June 18, 2026
Originally Published On
June 18, 2026
Alisa Pierce
Reporter, Division of Communications and Marketing
(512) 370-1469