Eleven hospitals and health systems have closed their maternity wards since 2000, after Rochester, N.H.-based Frisbie Memorial Hospital reached an agreement with the state's attorney general to close its labor and delivery services, NHPR reported March 9.
The state now has 15 hospitals with birthing centers and six freestanding birthing clinics. In June 2022, the state boosted Medicaid reimbursement rates to hospitals providing birthing services by 25 percent.
"It's truly troubling to me," state Sen. Suzanne Prentiss told NHPR. "This is a gap of access to care. For labor and delivery of your baby, if you choose a hospital, there is going to be a gap of access to maternal health."