Across sessions at a recent Department of Health and Human Services’ National Conference on Women’s Health, a consistent message emerged: while some core priorities remain stable, the scope of women’s health policy is expanding, particularly to include menopause, aging-related conditions, and a stronger federal focus on preventing chronic disease across the life course. At the same time, expectations for how agencies deliver results are shifting, with greater emphasis on accountability, innovation, and implementation at scale.

Below are three interconnected challenges—and opportunities—that will define the next phase of federal investment in maternal health.

Federal leaders made clear that women’s health is no longer framed primarily around pregnancy and reproductive care. Instead, agencies are advancing a life-course model that explicitly includes menopause, hormone health, and aging-related conditions.

This shift reflects growing recognition that hormonal changes (particularly estrogen loss) have broad implications for cardiovascular health, cognitive function, bone health, and chronic disease risk. Conference discussions highlighted recent federal actions, including policy and regulatory changes to support access to hormone therapy and increased attention to menopause education and clinical practice transformation. 

However, this expanded scope creates a fundamental challenge: existing delivery systems, quality measures, and data infrastructure remain oriented toward pregnancy-related care and short-term outcomes. They are not designed to support longitudinal management of women’s health across decades.

NORC’s work directly addresses this gap through efforts such as the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Maternal Health Portfolio Evaluation Capacity Building and implementation support for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)’s Transforming Maternal Health (TMaH) Model. With these projects, we are helping federal and state partners assess which strategies work, for whom, and under what conditions, and translating those findings in support of improvements in care delivery and policy.

What’s at stake: Without a stronger delivery system, agencies may struggle to operationalize a life-course approach, particularly for menopause and aging-related care that historically has not been systematically addressed.

Another consistent message was the elevation of prevention and upstream risk reduction as core federal priorities. This includes not only traditional lifestyle interventions (e.g., nutrition, physical activity), but also growing attention to hormonal health, environmental exposures, and the biological drivers of chronic disease. 

Speakers highlighted federal interest in reducing chemical exposures, reassessing longstanding assumptions in nutrition and chronic disease research, and incorporating factors such as the microbiome and metabolic health into prevention strategies.

At the same time, policy signals (such as expanded access to cervical cancer screening and increased attention to food systems and drug pricing) underscore that prevention is being positioned as both a clinical and policy priority, not just a research agenda. 

The challenge is clear: much of this science is evolving, and agencies need practical models for translating it into scalable, measurable interventions within Medicaid, Medicare, and public health systems. 

NORC has supported programs that integrate prevention strategies into real-world delivery systems and generate actionable evidence for decision-makers, including evaluations of the CDC’s Hypertension Management Program and the YMCA’s ForeverWell Program for older adults, as well as the HRSA Cervical Cancer Learning Series. 

What’s at stake: Federal agencies need partners who can bridge emerging science and implementation, ensuring prevention strategies are operationalized, evaluated, and sustained within complex delivery systems and real-world settings. 

A third major theme was the rapid expansion of technology-enabled care, cross-sector innovation, and public-private partnerships. Federal agencies are actively supporting remote monitoring, AI-enabled tools, and wearable technologies. They are also actively signaling openness to collaboration with private-sector partners, including technology companies, digital health startups, and non-traditional health care organizations. These partnerships are being positioned as critical to accelerating innovation and scaling new models of care.

At the same time, agencies are advancing new payment pathways and investments through programs such as the CMS ACCESS (Advancing Chronic Care with Effective, Scalable Solutions) model and Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) initiatives, creating opportunities to integrate private-sector innovation into federally supported care delivery models. 

These developments, combined with policies related to price transparency and drug pricing, signal a broader shift toward more consumer-oriented, market-driven health systems, where patients have greater access to data, tools, and decision-making power.

However, these trends introduce new challenges related to adoption, integration into clinical workflows, alignment of incentives across public and private stakeholders, payment models, and real-world effectiveness. Many of these innovations—and the partnerships that support them—are advancing faster than the evidence base needed to guide implementation. 

NORC supports federal and state partners in assessing how new technologies and cross-sector partnerships can be implemented effectively, scaled, and sustained within complex delivery systems. We also bring deep experience through leadership in the Clinical Decision Support Innovation Collaborative (CDSiC) and evaluations of telehealth and remote monitoring interventions, as well as drug pricing. 

What’s at stake: Agencies need to balance rapid innovation and expanded private-sector engagement with rigorous evaluation and implementation support to ensure that new technologies and partnerships deliver measurable improvements in health outcomes. 

The conference underscored broad alignment on priorities, but the next phase of federal work will depend on execution. As the scope of women’s health expands to include menopause, aging, and chronic disease prevention, agencies will need to move quickly from identifying priorities to demonstrating measurable impact. 

This will require:

• Delivery systems that support care across the life course, including menopause and aging-related conditions
• Practical models for implementing chronic disease prevention strategies
• Effective integration of technology and consumer-facing innovations into care delivery
• Strong evaluation and technical assistance to guide scale and sustainability

If agencies take these steps, the result could not only be better alignment with federal priorities, but more accessible, coordinated, and preventive care for women across the life course. It would also signal to clinicians, payers, and patients that these conditions and factors require systematic care. As a result, patients would be more likely to receive timely support, experience fewer gaps between care settings, and benefit from care that is both evidence-based and responsive to their lived needs. 

Over time, this has the potential to translate into improved health outcomes, reduced complications, and greater continuity of care for women. NORC has the evaluation, technical assistance, implementation, and learning-system expertise needed to translate expanding women’s health priorities into measurable improvements in care across the life course.