A growth agenda for Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences: new service lines, recurring revenue, and a perinatal data asset built on this department's research network.
[Candidate Name], MD Candidate presentation, Department Chair · McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston
2
The thesis
Move from episodes of care to continuous relationships across a woman's lifespan
Grow where others are thin
Complex-pregnancy referrals from community and Methodist hospitals, the postpartum year, midlife and pelvic health, and fast-growing suburbs.
Build recurring revenue
Monthly remote monitoring, care management and membership models that 2026 payment rules now reward.
Turn data into funding
Convert the department's research network and patient diversity into grants, industry partnerships and published outcomes.
And lower the cost to serve: make the AI investments UTHealth has already made pay, and share in the savings our clinical changes create.
3
Why now
Five forces have shifted in the last 24 months
Force
What changed
What it opens
Policy
Texas Medicaid postpartum coverage extended to 12 months (effective March 1, 2024). About 1 in 4 Texas pregnancy-related deaths occur 43 days to 1 year after pregnancy; about 80% judged preventable.
A billable, accountable postpartum year
Regulatory
FDA moved to remove boxed warnings for CVD, breast cancer and dementia on menopausal hormone therapy (Nov 10, 2025); the estrogen-alone endometrial cancer warning stays. Elinzanetant approved Oct 2025.
Houston metro added 126,720 people in one year, most of any US metro. Montgomery County +4%, Fort Bend +2.5%.
New suburban demand, likely commercial-heavy
Competition
Texas Children's $200M+ Pavilion expansion (2026). Houston Methodist Cypress, Sugar Land and Woodlands builds. Memorial Hermann Katy and Cypress towers.
I will not pitch what this department already does well
Complexity
The Fetal Center at Children's Memorial Hermann, a national referral center. Level IV maternal care at Memorial Hermann-TMC. Placenta accreta and MFM fellowship strength.
Research infrastructure
NICHD MFMU Network site (2023-2030) and the only Texas institution in both the MFMU and Neonatal Research Networks. Gilstrap Center.
Reach
Memorial Hermann-TMC plus seven suburban Memorial Hermann hospitals and Harris Health LBJ, with a new 390-bed LBJ hospital including L&D opening late 2028.
Pelvic health pipeline
Urogynecology at six outpatient sites and, as I understand it, an existing referral pathway for women over 60 with incontinence.
AI platform
McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics, TEAM-AI and SAFE centers, ChatGPT Edu, and the UT System enterprise Abridge ambient scribe agreement.
Where I see room to build
In public sources I could not find a dedicated menopause program, cardio-obstetrics clinic, postpartum-year program or REI division; suburban general OB/GYN is lighter. Please correct me.
Houston: the fastest-growing large metro, with a hard payer mix
7.90M
Metro population, July 2025
+126,720 in one year, #1 in US
35.7
Median age (US 39.2)
5.6% of women 15-50 gave birth last year (US 5.0%)
~105K
Births per year, 9-county metro
Estimate; Harris County ~65,450
+237%
Fulshear growth in 5 years
Median household income $178K
16.7%
Texas uninsured, worst in US
Harris County under-65: 23.8%
~48%
Texas births paid by Medicaid
185,000+ births (2023)
~38%
Incontinence in women over 60
Only about 1 in 4 women with UI seek care
46.5%
Texas counties that are maternity care deserts
15,287 births in deserts (March of Dimes, 2023)
Implication: fund mission care at the center with commercial and Medicare growth in the suburbs and in midlife, and with recurring Medicaid-eligible services in the postpartum year.
Where the dollars are: TAM, SAM and a realistic Year-3 share
Service line
TAM
SAM
SOM (Y3)
Basis
Midlife: menopause + pelvic floor
~$790M
~$111M
$4-5.5M
~956K women 45-64 x 20% moderate/severe VMS x $1,200; ~1.49M women 45+ x 25% UI/PFD x $1,500. SAM: catchment 50% x insured 80% x care-seeking 35%
Suburban OB/GYN satellites
~$738M
~$258M
$4.1M / site
105K births x $3,500 global professional + 2.47M women 18-64 x 60% visit x $250. SAM: west Fort Bend, west Harris, Waller, Montgomery (35%)
Concierge women's health
~$830M
~$33M
$1.8M
~277K households $200K+ x $3,000. SAM: within 25-30 min of TMC / Memorial City x 10% willing. SOM: 500 members
Connected pregnancy (RPM)
~$42M
~$10.5M
~$0.5M + avoided readmissions
105K births x $400 RPM episode; 25% at-risk share. Main value: quality and payer contracts
Tele-MFM hub, rural Texas
Not sized: grant and MCO-contract funded
~15K births/yr in maternity care deserts
All values annual and ESTIMATES built from sourced inputs (Census/ACS, KFF, NHANES-based prevalence, Monash VMS cohort, Scripps concierge pricing). Full math and assumptions in the appendix and business plan. Replace female age bands with ACS B01001 and births with DSHS Table 9 before decisions.
7
Competition
Four players, four different strategies
Houston Methodist
Baylor / Texas Children's
UTHealth + Memorial Hermann
Kelsey-Seybold
Model
Multi-hospital system, suburban delivery growth
Academic + children's flagship at TMC
Academic dept. + 8 MH hospitals + LBJ safety net
Payer-integrated multispecialty group
Scale
~14,000 births, 8 hospitals
6,000+ births at Pavilion, expanding
~7,900 births (MH-TMC + LBJ)
OB/GYN at 6 sites (incl. Woodlands, Katy, Atascocita)
No Level IV maternal designation anywhere; top is Level III
No MFM division or fetal therapy listed; Texas Children's lists an MFM clinic at the Methodist West address
No menopause program found
Hospital-based institute (Weill Cornell affiliate), not a medical school; second OB/GYN residency (Willowbrook) began 2025
No public postpartum RPM program or obstetric hospital-at-home found
Our position: be the place every Methodist-area OB calls for a complex pregnancy, the system that owns the postpartum year and midlife care, and the department that publishes the outcomes.
Premium (~$5,000/yr): adds midlife program (bone, cardiometabolic, VMS), executive scheduling, pelvic health and fertility counseling
Hybrid: insurance billed for covered care; the fee covers only non-covered services (access, navigation, counseling); Medicare/Medicaid compliance review first
Mission pairing: a share of membership margin funds the postpartum year program at LBJ
Benchmarks: Scripps concierge $3,780/yr (<65); MDVIP "low four figures"; MD2 Houston $24,000. No Houston concierge OB/GYN price found.
Program economics ($M)
Y1
Y2
Y3
Members
150
350
500
Revenue
0.54
1.26
1.80
Direct costs
0.73
1.06
1.34
Margin
-0.19
+0.20
+0.46
Capex $0.5M. Operating and cumulative breakeven in Y2; ~370 members at full Y3 staffing. Y3 margin 25%. Feeds commercial deliveries, surgery and philanthropy.
Sources: Scripps concierge pricing; The Hospitalist on academic concierge; MD2 River Oaks; Monetizely concierge pricing guide. Fees, member ramp and staffing are ASSUMPTIONS.
14
Engine 1 · Grow the front door
Close the loop on the 60+ referral pathway: a Midlife & Pelvic Health Center
Menopause, integrated: HRT counseling after the 2025 label change, non-hormonal options (elinzanetant, fezolinetant with liver monitoring), bone and cardiometabolic risk
Differentiation from Baylor's center: network reach across MH suburban sites, continence plus menopause in one visit, and outcomes tracked from referral to result
Devices: leva (RCT superior to Kegels); eCoin (PMA); Revi (510(k)); AUA/SUFU 2024 guideline includes implantable TNS
$M
Y1
Y2
Y3
Revenue
1.31
2.52
4.18
Clinic margin
-0.93
-0.25
+0.32
With surgical cases
-0.63
+0.18
+1.09
Capex $1.0M. Pelvic floor PT is the margin lever. Year 4 clinic +$0.52M; +$0.74M with a cash-pay menopause tier.
A tele-MFM and eConsult hub: be the region's complexity partner
Who it serves
Maternity care deserts (46.5% of Texas counties, March of Dimes 2023; ~15K births a year), Level I-II community hospitals across the region, FQHCs and Harris Health clinics.
What it offers
Scheduled tele-MFM consults, 24/7 one-call transfer line to the Level IV center and Fetal Center, eConsults within 48 hours, shared RPM for high-risk patients after they return home.
How it pays
eConsult and telehealth codes, downstream transfers and fetal procedures, hospital service agreements, HRSA and state grants, MCO contracts.
Design principle: send patients home after the complex episode. Referring OBs keep their patients, so they keep referring.
One consented cohort linking MH-TMC, LBJ and the MH suburban network, adding remote-monitoring and imaging data, built to partner with existing Houston biobanks such as Baylor/TCH PeriBank, not duplicate them.
Collect: serum and cell-free RNA, placenta photo and pathology, ultrasound, fetal heart tracings, RPM data, EHR outcomes
Built alongside the MFMU site: reuse coordinator expertise and SOPs, under a separate IRB protocol, funding and data governance
Governed: data use agreements; federated-ready for external consortia
Who pays
Industry RWE: diagnostics (cfRNA preeclampsia tests, sFlt-1/PlGF), fetal heart AI vendors, CTG AI vendors, pelvic device registries
Federal: NIH ORWH (~$106.5M FY2026), NICHD, PCORI comparative effectiveness, ARPA-H women's health programs (Sprint: ~$110M to 23 teams)
State and philanthropy: maternal health and prevention grants
Prevention at scale: reach women who never come in
Home HPV self-collection
First at-home cervical screening device FDA-approved May 2025 (Teal Wand). Mailed-kit outreach to under-screened Harris County women with FQHC partners and colposcopy access. NCI-fundable.
AI-assisted cytology
Hologic Genius Digital Diagnostics FDA-cleared January 2024; company reports 28% fewer false negatives for high-grade lesions. Throughput and quality study with Pathology.
Oncofertility
Texas HB 1649 (2023) requires state-regulated plans to cover fertility preservation before gonadotoxic treatment. Referral pathway with oncology; partner on IVF rather than build.
Each program produces screening volume, downstream procedures and a publishable equity outcome, and none needs new space.
Most savings land with partners, so we negotiate the share up front
$1.4-2.8M
Hard cash to hospitals
ERAS, LOS, OR supplies
$0.3-1.2M
Cash to department and UT Physicians
Prior auth, interpreting, scribe consolidation
$0.3-0.9M
Payer savings
NTSV cesareans, office procedures
$2.4-7.2M
Total per year, all parties
Remainder is freed capacity
How the department shares in it
Co-management or gainsharing with Memorial Hermann on cost per case, LOS and quality, written into the same funds-flow agreement as the satellites
Value-based MCO contracts that pay for NTSV, readmission and postpartum outcomes
Liability: UT's self-insured plan has used partial experience rating (confirm current formula), so safety gains can return through premiums
Capacity: freed slots are filled by the growth engine, which turns savings into revenue
Cost work and growth work are one negotiation: the department brings the clinical change, the partners share the margin it creates.
All figures are ESTIMATES; savings are reported separately and are not included in the revenue pro forma totals. Confirm current ERAS status, NTSV rates, supply cost per case, interpreter and scribe spend, and UT liability premiums (2002 Regents experience-rating policy) before decisions.
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The economics
Three modeled initiatives: $3.1M of capital, system-positive in Year 2 with a Memorial Hermann funds-flow agreement
■ Satellite■ Signature membership■ Midlife & Pelvic System contribution, $M
Initiative
Capex
Y3 system
Breakeven
Satellite (4 MD)
$1.6M
+$2.04M
Y2 (system)
Signature membership
$0.5M
+$0.46M
Y2 (operating)
Midlife & Pelvic
$1.0M
+$1.09M
Y2 (system)
Total
$3.1M
+$3.59M
Cumulative +$3.08M by Y3 (after depreciation)
Clinic-only (department)
Y1 -$2.54M · Y2 -$1.09M · Y3 +$0.22M
Conservative case (Merritt Hawkins benchmark for the satellite): Y3 total ~+$2.5M.
Upside not in totals: connected care (~$0.5M direct RPM in Y3 plus avoided readmissions), eConsults, industry RWE contracts and grants.
Contribution margin before institutional overhead (dean's tax, central admin); includes depreciation of build-out. Years run from each opening; the satellite opens in H2, so calendar-year totals will be lower in Years 1-2 and reach the Year-3 run rate later. Inputs are ASSUMPTIONS (AMGA 2026, Houston MOB rents, TDLR filings, Scripps pricing, Merritt Hawkins surveys); replace with UT Physicians and Memorial Hermann actuals.
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The economics
What could go wrong, and what we watch
Lever
Breakeven / sensitivity
Satellite collections per wRVU
Clinic-only breakeven ~$106; at $85 loses ~$0.70M/yr; at $115 earns ~$0.30M
Hospital downstream value
Base $2.2M per MD; conservative $1.35M still positive in Y3
Signature membership
Breakeven ~370 members at full Y3 staffing; each 100 members ~ $0.36M revenue
Funds-flow risk: negotiate the Memorial Hermann agreement before signing a lease
Equity optics: membership margin funds the postpartum year at LBJ
Recruiting: urogynecologists (URPS), cardio-OB and menopause-certified clinicians are scarce; start search in month 1
Payer acceptance: RTM for pelvic floor and Texas Medicaid RPM rates must be confirmed
AI safety: audit sampling on scribe notes; silent trials before any prediction model goes live
Sensitivities from the pro forma model (business plan). Medicare 2026 conversion factor $33.4009 includes a temporary +2.5% that expires after 2026 (CMS; SIR).
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The economics
How it gets funded: capital from five sources, not one
Memorial Hermann
Funds-flow or JV for satellites and the midlife center; suburban towers need service lines
Philanthropy
Midlife center naming; Signature members as donors
Federal
NIH ORWH / NICHD, PCORI, ARPA-H, HRSA for rural tele-MFM
Extramural funding; industry contracts; publications from department programs
3+ new funded studies
People
Faculty retention; burnout scores; recruitment fill rate; resident outcomes
Burnout below baseline
29
Execution
None of this works without the people
Recruit
Urogynecologists (URPS), cardio-obstetrics, menopause-certified clinicians, APPs and pelvic floor PTs. Joint recruitments with cardiology and psychiatry.
Train
Residents rotate through the postpartum year, midlife center and tele-MFM hub. Prepare the program for the new LBJ hospital in 2028.
Sustain
Ambient documentation to cut after-hours work; protected time for program leads; transparent incentive tied to the scorecard.
Every initiative has a faculty lead with protected time, a budget, and a seat at the quarterly review.
Complexity is our moat. Continuity is our growth.
Own complex pregnancy for the region. Own the postpartum year and midlife care. Turn this department's research platform into the evidence everyone else needs.
Thank you. Questions and discussion.
A1
Appendix
Assumptions to replace with actuals before decisions
Input
Value used
Replace with
Metro births
~105,000/yr (estimate)
DSHS Vital Statistics Table 9 by county
Women by age band
MSA x 50.4% female x assumed age shares
ACS table B01001, 9 MSA counties
Collections per wRVU
$95 (tested $85-125)
UT Physicians OB/GYN actuals
Hospital net per delivery / gyn case; contribution
$12,000 delivery; $10,000 gyn case (satellite); $12,000 urogyn case (midlife); 30%
Memorial Hermann actuals and funds-flow terms
Deliveries per general OB/GYN
140 per year at maturity
Department actuals
Support staff; malpractice
3.5 FTE per MD at $58K; $40K per MD
UT Physicians staffing model; UT self-insurance
Concierge fee and ramp
$3,000 average; 150 / 350 / 500 members
Market test with current patients
Midlife center productivity
PT 11 visits/day x $110; menopause 20 visits/day x $160