America's Rural Hospitals Are Shutting Down Maternity Wards
By 2022, a majority (52%) of rural U.S. hospitals no longer had any maternity ward, compared to 36% of urban hospitals, according to a study from the University of Minnesota.
Study lead author Katy Kozhimannil believes these closures will only increase the vulnerability of new moms and their babies.
“Rural hospitals not only started with fewer obstetric services but also experienced more severe losses over time, leaving rural residents with fewer options and longer distances to travel -- often at times when patients are in urgent need of timely care," said Kozhimannil, a professor of health policy and management at the university.
The United States already has maternal mortality rates that are higher than other affluent countries, and without more investment in obstetric care, "this public health crisis will only get worse," she said in a university news release.
The research was published Dec. 4 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Her team looked at U.S. hospital data from the American Hospital Association and the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The data spanned the years 2010 through 2022 and included 2,982 city hospitals nationwide and 1,982 rural hospitals.