Monitoring Obstetric Unit Closures and Maintaining County-level Data on Hospital-based Obstetric Care 2010-2025

This project seeks to 1) create an annually updated database of obstetric unit closures by state and county, and to make that information publicly available to inform research, policy, and public health decisions on rural maternity care access and rural maternal health; 2) link the closure database with additional data useful for research, public health, clinical care, and policy; and 3) describe national-, state-, and county-level changes in hospital-based obstetric care availability.

As a supplemental project, we will also describe key characteristics of rural hospitals that have re-opened obstetric units since 2021. With increased attention around declining access to maternity care, policy makers and hospital administrators have asked about whether examples exist of hospitals that have re-opened their obstetric units, and if so, under what circumstances. This supplemental project seeks to identify and describe these cases.

Ensuring obstetric care access and reducing maternal mortality in rural and underserved areas is a key focus of national, state, and local policies. Providing accurate and updated information on obstetric service availability at rural and urban hospitals is essential in fulfilling this goal.