Hospitals close maternity wards at alarming rates

Hospitals are closing maternity units at alarming rates

What you probably already know: Rural hospitals are closing their maternity wards at alarming rates across the U.S., leaving millions of people without access to obstetric care. More than 500 hospitals have eliminated these services since 2010, according to a new study out last week. Now, most rural hospitals and a third of all urban hospitals no longer offer labor and delivery services. States with abortion bans have experienced even higher rates as obstetricians leave for areas where they are able to perform their jobs without risk of legal challenges and even jail. Meanwhile, maternal mortality rates continue to rise, particularly in rural areas.

Why? The short answer is that maternity wards lose money. Medicaid covers approximately 40% of births in the U.S. and pays out less than private insurance, making the services more challenging for rural hospitals that already struggle to make ends meet. There are other services that can offset the costs of running a maternity unit, like elective surgeries, but those are less common in rural areas, and the offsets aren’t able to cover the cost of obstetrics. It’s also worth noting that hospitals are struggling to find the nurses they need to staff these facilities, and as a result, are having to pay more.

What it means: Pregnant patients are now turning up in these rural hospitals and giving birth in emergency rooms instead of specialized maternity units. As a result, the physicians on staff are not generally experts and aren’t as likely to catch issues that can result in complications that can be life threatening. As expecting mothers have to travel farther and farther for care, the less likely they are to get the pre- and postnatal care they need.

What happens now? The U.S. ranks 64th in the world for maternal mortality rates, between Grenada and Lebanon. Even countries that at notoriously unfriendly to women, such as Saudi Arabia, rank higher. Meanwhile, many U.S. states continue to reduce access to care and make it illegal to treat a woman whose pregnancy is putting her life at risk. It’s reasonable to expect maternal mortality rates in the U.S. to continue to rise under these conditions.