Vast stretches of California lose maternity care as dozens of hospitals shut labor wards

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Vast stretches of California lose maternity care as dozens of hospitals shut labor wards
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With fewer births, California hospitals are ending labor and delivery services. The closures limit maternity care in rural and lower-income communities.

We’re a big state with big challenges. Each morning we explain the top issues and how Californians are trying to solve them.One weekly email, all the Golden State newsGet the news that matters to all Californians. Start every week informed.As maternal mortality rates are steadily worsening across California, a CalMatters analysis finds that maternity wards are closing at an alarming rate.

Help us understand why so many Californians have serious complications or die during pregnancy and childbirth These maternity ward closures have disproportionately impacted California’s low-income and Latino populations as well as communities where access to maternal care is already limited. Many closures and suspensions result from hospital systems consolidating maternity care into one location. Hospital representatives say consolidations can help maintain staff training and provide a higher level of care.

Zadeh said medical staff monitor patients whose scheduled deliveries are delayed. “I understand it’s a concern that has always been there, but more recently with the closure of El Centro, it’s gotten worse.” Bringing a birthing center and more OB-GYNS to Calexico would also open the doors for local women to get prenatal care sooner, she said. Expectant parents are losing access to prenatal care or driving long distances with so many California hospitals closing maternity wards to cut costs. A mother whose first child was stillborn shares her story and an important practice that public agencies should raise awareness about.when maternity wards close particularly in rural counties.

Jim Goerlich, president of the Petaluma Valley Hospital nurses union, said even if the maternity unit isn’t making money, the rest of the hospital is almost always profitable enough to make up the difference. Providence, the hospital operator, suspended maternity services indefinitely in May, maintaining that it was not a financial decision. In a statement, Chief Administrative Officer Troy Gideon said the hospital did not have enough clinicians to keep the ward running.

There’s broad consensus across the U.S. that increasing reimbursement for Medicaid, the federal insurance program for very low-income people, would help some hospitals keep labor and delivery running. In California, the state’s version of the program known as Medi-CalA much greater share of the population in communities that lost maternity wards rely on Medi-Cal or are uninsured than in those that gained maternity wards: 31% vs 19%, according to Census data.

“It's been one of the most emotionally challenging and draining things that I've faced in my career,” Read said. “I have people in opposing positions in the leadership team who believe that we will kill people if we don't do OB, and we will kill people if we do OB. And there's no right answer.”The number of babies born every year has been decreasing in the U.S.

In Mono County where the population is less than 14,000 people, Brown said labor and delivery jobs went vacant for more than a year.

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