The Availability of Midwifery Care in Rural United States Communities

Introduction

Access to pregnancy-related and childbirth-related health care for rural residents is limited by health workforce shortages in the United States. Although midwives are key pregnancy and childbirth care providers, the current landscape of the rural midwifery workforce is not well understood. The goal of this analysis was to describe the availability of local midwifery care in rural US communities.

Methods

We developed and conducted a national survey of rural US hospitals with current or recently closed childbirth services. Maternity unit managers or administrators at 292 rural hospitals were surveyed from March to August 2021, with 133 hospitals responding (response rate 46%; 93 currently offering childbirth services, 40 recently closed childbirth services). This cross-sectional analysis describes whether rural hospitals with current or prior childbirth services had midwifery care with certified nurse-midwives available locally and whether rural communities with and without midwifery care differed by hospital-level and county-level characteristics.

Results

Among hospitals surveyed, 55% of those with current and 75% of those with prior childbirth services reported no locally available midwifery care. Of the 93 rural communities with current hospital-based childbirth services, those without midwifery care were more likely to have lower populations (37% vs 33%); majority populations that were Black, Indigenous, and people of color (24% vs 10%); and hospitals where at least 50% of births were Medicaid funded (77% vs 64%), compared with communities with midwifery care. Conversely, communities with midwifery care more often had greater than 30% of patients traveling more than 30 miles for hospital-based childbirth services (38% vs 28%).

Discussion

More than half of rural hospitals surveyed reported no locally available midwifery care, and availability differed by hospital-level and county-level characteristics. Efforts to ensure pregnancy and childbirth care access for rural birthing people should include attention to the availability of local midwifery care.