Eleven hospitals and health systems have announced the permanent or temporary closure of obstetric services since March 16. Several of those moves have been attributed to staffing challenges:
1. Advocate Aurora Health hospital to cut OB services, add behavioral health
Hazel Crest, Ill.-based Advocate South Suburban Hospital is cutting labor and delivery services and investing $20 million in an inpatient behavioral health unit.
2. Florida hospital to close baby delivery unit
Lakeside Medical Center will close its baby delivery unit because of a decline in births in recent years, The Palm Beach Post reported June 21.
3. McLaren hospital to end labor, delivery services
Citing a 20 percent decrease in births this year and other factors, McLaren St. Luke's Hospital in Maumee, Ohio, said it will discontinue labor and delivery services.
4. Baptist Health hospital pauses maternity services
Baptist Nassau, part of Jacksonville, Fla.-based Baptist Health, temporarily paused its maternity services May 31.
5. Ochsner Mississippi hospital ends labor and delivery services
New Orleans-based Ochsner Health closed its labor and delivery department at Ochsner Medical Center in Bay St. Louis, Miss., at the end of May, the Sun Herald reported May 17.
6. Beth Israel Lahey hospital's freestanding birth center to close
Beverly (Mass.) Hospital, part of Cambridge, Mass.-based Beth Israel Lahey Health, will permanently close its freestanding birth center Sept. 9 because of staffing shortages, the Salem News reported May 13.
7. Wyoming hospital ends labor and delivery services amid staffing problems
Memorial Hospital of Carbon County in Rawlins, Wyo., ended its labor and delivery services June 15, Wyoming Public Radio reported May 12.
8. Premier Health facility to transfer maternity services to main hospital campus
Dayton, Ohio-based Premier Health said the health system is repurposing beds used for obstetrics at its Miami Valley Hospital South campus in Centerville, Ohio, for medical/surgical care. The last day of deliveries at Miami Valley will be June 30, and the obstetrics unit there is scheduled to cease operations by July 8, according to a statement shared with Becker's May 11.
9. Covenant Health to close maternity services at Maine hospital
St. Mary's Health System will close its maternity and women's health service line at St. Mary's Regional Medical Center in Lewiston, Maine, in July, News Center Maine reported May 11.
10. New York hospital closing inpatient birthing unit
Alice Hyde Medical Center in Malone, N.Y. — part of the University of Vermont Health Network — is closing its maternity unit and adopting a regional approach to obstetrical care, hospital officials said in a March 29 news release.
11. Wyoming hospital to end obstetrics services over staffing
South Lincoln Medical Center in Kemmerer, Wyo., stopped providing labor and delivery services June 1 as the critical access hospital grapples with workforce challenges, according to the hospital's website.