Dive Temporary:
- Extra rural hospitals shut down labor and supply models this 12 months because the suppliers confronted mounting monetary challenges, in accordance with a brand new report by the Middle for Healthcare High quality and Cost Reform.
- Twenty-seven hospitals closed their models or plan to shutter them by the tip of 2025, in contrast with 21 final 12 months, in accordance with the CHQPR.
- Solely 41% of rural hospitals within the U.S. nonetheless supply labor and supply care, in accordance with the report. In 12 states, lower than one-third of rural services nonetheless supply these companies.
Dive Perception:
Because the finish of 2020, 116 rural hospitals have halted delivering infants or mentioned they’d shut down their labor models by the tip of this 12 months, in accordance with the report. Closures this 12 months are among the many highest seen up to now 5 years, second solely to the 34 reported in 2023.
Labor and supply closures can have severe well being penalties for pregnant sufferers and their infants, who face worse outcomes with out entry to native maternity care.
Whereas pregnant ladies in city communities sometimes need to journey fewer than 20 minutes to achieve a hospital with labor and supply companies, rural sufferers doubtless need to spend half an hour reaching an identical hospital — and so they may journey for 50 minutes or extra, in accordance with the CHQPR evaluation.
Lower than half of rural hospitals supply labor and supply care
% of rural hospitals with L&D care in 2025 by state
Rural hospitals already battle financially and are at heightened threat of closure. In the meantime, reimbursement from personal payers and safety-net insurance coverage program Medicaid usually doesn’t cowl the price of maternity care in rural communities — and these suppliers can’t offset labor and supply losses with out income on different companies, in accordance with the report.
Greater than 120 rural services that also ship infants misplaced cash up to now two years, doubtlessly pushing these suppliers to shutter labor and supply models to remain afloat, in accordance with the report.
Moreover, protecting rural hospitals open and staffed in any respect hours is expensive in each rural and concrete areas, however fewer births in rural communities means much less income for suppliers. In the meantime, staffing could be a problem too: Suppliers can’t be on name always, so hospitals want to rent extra workers to be ready for births.
The price of staffing labor and supply models has additionally risen as salaries for physicians and nurses enhance, Harold Miller, president and CEO of the the CHQPR, instructed Healthcare Dive by way of e-mail.
“It has grow to be tougher yearly for rural hospitals to recruit and retain OB-Gyns and OB nurses, and a few hospitals merely haven’t been in a position to keep what they imagine is a secure staffing stage,” he mentioned.
One potential answer to the rising problem of maternity care deserts is to rethink how labor and supply companies are reimbursed, in accordance with the report.
For instance, well being plans may supply standby capability funds primarily based on the variety of ladies of childbearing age coated within the facility’s service space, so hospitals can keep the staffing and help wanted to supply labor and supply care. They might additionally obtain a smaller price for every delivery.
“Beneath this two-part fee system, each spending for the well being plans and income for the hospital and clinicians can be much more predictable than beneath the present system of paying per delivery,” the report reads.
The evaluation comes as rural hospitals will doubtless face elevated monetary pressures within the wake of the One Massive Lovely Invoice Act, which incorporates important cuts to Medicaid.
Hundreds of thousands will doubtless lose protection on account of the large tax and coverage legislation, rising suppliers’ uncompensated care prices and chopping into income.
