Rural obstetrics units with few births struggle to stay open

About one-third of Iowa hospitals have closed their labor and delivery units since 2000, part of a nationwide trend resulting from declining births in rural areas. An infographic released by the University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center highlights the decline in U.S. rural counties from 2010-2022, finding that nearly 59% of rural counties did not have any hospital-based obstetric services as of 2022. Closures are particularly onerous for pregnant individuals who lack reliable transportation and flexible schedules to travel long distances for prenatal care and delivery services. Rural hospitals still offering obstetric services struggle to maintain staff and facilities to deliver babies safely. Some hospitals have consolidated obstetrics units and combined their resources into one program with enough staffers to handle sufficient cases. (MedPage Today article, 7/16/24)