Doula Services for Medi-Cal Members

Doulas provide personal support to individuals and families throughout pregnancy and one year postpartum. This includes emotional and physical support provided during pregnancy, labor, birth, and the postpartum period, as well as support for and after miscarriage and abortion.

Doulas can help prevent perinatal complications and improve health outcomes for birthing parents and infants. According to a recent review by Sobczak and colleagues (2023), doula care was associated with positive delivery outcomes including a reduction in caesarean sections, epidural use, length of labor, low-birthweight and premature deliveries. Additionally, the emotional support provided by doulas lowered stress and anxiety during the labor period.

Studies examining the impact of continuous support by doulas report increased empowerment and autonomy during birth, high overall satisfaction with the birthing process, and improved breastfeeding success and duration (Sobczak et al., 2023).

Services Available

As a preventive benefit, doula services require a written recommendation from a physician or other licensed practitioner of the healing arts. To increase access to services, DHCS Medical Director, Karen Mark, MD, issued a standing recommendation for the initial set of doula services for any Medi-Cal member who is pregnant or was pregnant within the past year.

The standing recommendation authorizes the following services:

One initial visit.
Up to eight additional visits that may be provided in any combination of prenatal and postpartum visits.
Support during labor and delivery (including labor and delivery resulting in a stillbirth), abortion, or miscarriage.
Up to two extended three-hour postpartum visits after the end of a pregnancy.

Up to nine additional postpartum visits is available with additional recommendation from a physician or other licensed practitioner of the healing arts acting. This recommendation can be noted in the member's medical record by the recommending licensed provider, or a member can ask a licensed provider to complete the DHCS Medi-Cal Doula Services Recommendation form and give the form to the doula. The standing recommendation from DHCS cannot be used for additional postpartum visits. For more information regarding recommendations, please see the Frequently Asked Questions for Medi-Cal Members.

Doula Directory

The Doula Directory (PDF available) lists Medi-Cal enrolled doula providers by county who opted to be included in the directory. It includes their specialties, language, ethnicity, contact information, and other information that doulas shared with DHCS for the directory. Medi-Cal members with fee-for-service may be use the directory to find a doula. DHCS updates the directory on at least once each month.

Medi-Cal MCP members should contact Member Services for their MCP to assist them in securing doula services. MCP point of contact for general information can be found at Medi-Cal Managed Care Health Plan Directory.

The Department has enrolled 668 individual providers as of April 4, 2025.