Duckworth Joins Wyden and Hassan in Introducing Legislation to Help Stop Labor and Delivery Unit Closures in Rural and Underserved Communities

September 30, 2024

Duckworth Joins Wyden and Hassan in Introducing Legislation to Help Stop Labor and Delivery Unit Closures in Rural and Underserved Communities

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) joined U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH), along with 15 other Senate Democrats in introducing the Keep Obstetrics Local Act (KOLA) to help address the rising trend of rural hospitals and hospitals in underserved areas closing their labor and delivery units with significant consequences for expectant parents, families and their local communities. This legislation would help provide additional resources through Medicaid funding and make sure that hospitals are required to use them to invest in the maternal healthcare needs of the local communities they serve.

"It is absolutely unconscionable that hundreds of expectant and new moms in maternity deserts are left without access to the care they need," Duckworth said. "Every mother, no matter their zip code, deserves access to high-quality maternal health care. I'm proud to join Senators Wyden and Hassan and my Senate colleagues in introducing this critical legislation that would help make sure that rural hospitals have the resources needed to support mothers throughout their pregnancy and beyond."

"Too many rural communities have become maternity deserts, leaving families without access to care. It's time we reverse this trend and offer some stability to rural hospitals so they can keep their labor and delivery ward doors open," Wyden said. "This legislation will give rural hospitals the means to continue serving their communities, and ensures that large hospital chains can't exploit the funds for profit."

"No matter where they live, expectant moms deserve access to high-quality care to protect their health and the health of their babies," Hassan said. "As more maternity wards in rural areas of New Hampshire and in states across the country close, this important legislation will help give rural hospitals the resources that they need to support labor and delivery units and provide the high-quality care that women deserve, while also making it easier for more women to get postpartum care after they give birth."

Between 2012 and 2022, approximately one-quarter of all rural hospitals stopped providing obstetrics services, impacting 267 communities. This trend of closures is caused by several overlapping challenges, including the high fixed operating costs of these units, low volumes of births and difficulties in attracting and retaining OB-trained clinical staff, all of which are made worse by inadequate reimbursement for labor and delivery services.

Along with Duckworth, Wyden and Hassan, this legislation was also joined by U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Tom Carper (D-DE), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Bob Casey Jr. (D-PA), Mark Warner (D-VA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), George Helmy (D-NJ), Corey Booker (D-NJ), Patty Murray (D-WA) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR).

The KOLA Act would help increase Medicaid payment rates for labor and delivery services for eligible rural and high-need urban hospitals, provide "standby" payments to cover the costs of staffing and maintaining an obstetrics unit at low-volume hospitals, create low-volume payment adjustments for labor and delivery services at hospitals with low birth volumes and require all states to provide postpartum coverage for women in Medicaid for 12 months, among other steps. The legislation helps make sure that hospitals are required to use these additional resources to invest in the maternal health care needs of the local communities they serve.

A section-by-section summary of the bill and the bill text can be found on the U.S. Senate Finance Committee's website.

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