(Bloomberg Business) — Having a baby isn't just expensive for parents. Insurance companies spend $18,329 on the average natural birth in the U.S., and that cost goes up for Caesarian sections, multiple births, pre-term deliveries, or complications.

Parents and insurers share an interest in healthy pregnancies and lower medical costs, and early interventions can reduce the risk of complications. There's just one problem: Insurance companies don't know when women conceive.

Medical claims for prenatal visits don't reach them until late in pregnancy or even after delivery. “We might not know a woman is pregnant until three months after she’s given birth,” says Leah O’Donnell, a managing director at Zaffre Investments, the venture capital arm of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts.