Hospitals are closing down their obstetric services at an alarming rate – especially rural hospitals.

According to a recent study:

  • In eight states, more than two-thirds of rural hospitals do not offer OB services.
  • In 2022, the majority of rural hospitals in three states – North Dakota, Oklahoma, and West Virginia – did not offer OB services.
  • More than 40 percent of rural hospitals ended their OB services between 2010 and 2022 in Pennsylvania, South Carolina, West Virginia, and Florida.
  • Between 2010 and 2022, only three states – Delaware, Utah, and Vermont – saw no termination of OB programs.
  • During that same period of time, seven states saw at least 25 percent of their hospitals close their OB services.
  • By 2022, more than two-thirds of all rural hospitals did not offer OB services.

Urban hospitals have not been immune from this trend, either:  28.6 percent of urban hospitals in Rhode Island ended their OB services between 2010 and 2022 and 27.6 percent in Oklahoma and 25 percent in Hawaii did the same.

Learn more about the continued demise of  hospital OB services from the Fierce Healthcare article “Most states saw hospital obstetric service shutdowns from 2010-2022, with rural states hit hardest.”