US faces maternity care crisis, report warns. Here's Why
NBC5
The United States is facing an ongoing maternity health crisis in which 1 in every 3 counties does not have a single obstetric clinician, affecting women’s access to care, according to a new report.
The report, released Tuesday by the infant and maternal health nonprofit March of Dimes, says that in many parts of the country, obstetrician/gynecologists and family physicians who deliver babies are leaving the workforce, which worsens access to care.
Ob/gyns nationwide delivered more than 85% of babies born in 2022, according to the report, but the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) now projects that the nation will face a shortage of 12,000 to 15,000 ob/gyns by 2050.
Additionally, "there's been a significant uptick in, say, the last five years in terms of hospitals closing their obstetric units, with staff shortages, poor reimbursements, low birth volumes, all of those are influencing the hospital's decision to close obstetric units and leaving patients with very limited choices about where they can have their delivery," said Dr. Amanda Williams, interim chief medical officer for March of Dimes.