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The maternity business was on my mind last week, and not just because of this issue’s cover. arkansas business.
My cousin and his wife welcomed twin girls into the world last week, making their 3-year-old daughter a big sister. No pregnancy is worry-free, but the surprise of twins added another layer of complexity. However, from what I can gather, my cousin and her daughters received good medical care from the beginning of their pregnancy and continuing after delivery.
They’re also lucky to live near a hospital with a maternity ward, a luxury many Arkansans don’t have, Lara Farrar and Mark Friedman reported this week.
Their research addresses what health care providers and policy leaders have been facing for some time: growing areas of the state where maternity wards and services for pregnant women are lacking or non-existent. It shows.
One problem is that running a delivery unit is expensive, and many rural hospitals can’t afford it. Leslie Hoyt, CEO of Bradley County Medical Center, said her labor and delivery business in far southeastern Arkansas is losing $1 million a year. “I’m hanging on by a thread,” she said. However, it remains open as a service to the community.
Poverty levels are high in Arkansas, with nearly half of births paid for by Medicaid, the public health insurance program for poor Americans. But Medicaid has not kept pace with rising costs. In fact, Medicaid rates have not increased since 2007, and there are no plans to increase them anytime soon.
That means hospitals like Baxter Health in Mountain Home, in rural north-central Arkansas, are losing money on labor and delivery every time a Medicaid patient gives birth. And if Baxter Health closes its maternity unit, Mountain Home residents will have to drive at least an hour to the next closest delivery unit. And many Baxter patients are already driving that many miles.
The reduction in maternity wards and related services has exacerbated the difficult situation for pregnant women. As Farrar reports, infant and maternal mortality rates in Arkansas are already higher than the national average. And a staggering 91% of pregnancy-related deaths in Arkansas in 2018 and 2019 were considered “likely to have been preventable” by the state’s Arkansas Maternal Mortality Investigation Commission.
In Arkansas, we often hear about making the state more competitive for business growth and outside investment. And those things are important.
But imagine how you could improve their health if you applied the same emphasis to mothers and babies. Improving maternal and child health would be an attractive economic development hook in its own right.
“Arkansas is the best state in the country to have a baby.” Think about that for a second.
