ARPA-H, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services advanced research agency, committed $90.7 million over four years under its Making Obstetrics Care Smart (MOCS) program to support diagnostics and fetal monitoring technologies aimed at safer childbirth. ARPA-H’s awards begin June 16 and include $34 million in the first year. Funded efforts include point-of-care approaches to identify fetal hypoxia risk using genomic and proteomic methods, microfluidic extracellular vesicle monitoring, and an autonomous wearable ultrasound device designed to evaluate placental health without a specialist present. ARPA-H also backed wireless monitoring concepts integrating fetal heart rate, contraction data, AI, and machine learning. For biotech, MOCS expands a procurement-facing pathway for rapid diagnostics and device-enabled AI validation in obstetrics, an area where outcomes are sensitive to monitoring access and turnaround time.