For most of the last century, prenatal care followed the same rigid schedule for everyone: a visit every four weeks, then every two, then weekly near the end. In 2025, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) released a consensus statement recommending a real shift away from that one-size-fits-all model.
What's changing
ACOG's guidance points to three main areas of change:
- Looking at the whole person, not just the medical chart — assessing things like housing stability, work demands, and access to healthy food alongside clinical risk, ideally early in pregnancy.
- Flexible visit schedules — moving away from a fixed 12–14 visits toward a number of visits tailored to individual risk, which research summarized by ACOG suggests can work as well for average-risk pregnancies while improving satisfaction.
- More care options — a bigger role for telemedicine, group prenatal care, and remote monitoring alongside in-person visits.
What this could mean for you
In practice, tailored care may mean more conversation time about your specific concerns, a visit schedule that fits your actual life, and more say in decisions about your own care through shared decision-making with your provider.
This is guidance for how care is organized, not a reason to skip visits on your own — your own provider is still the one to decide what's appropriate for your pregnancy.
Source: ACOG, "Tailored Prenatal Care Delivery for Pregnant Individuals" clinical consensus (2025). This article is general educational content, not medical advice. See our Medical Disclaimer.
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