Journal article
Labor & delivery unit closures most impact travel times to birth locations for micropolitan residents in Iowa
The Journal of rural health, Vol.39(1), pp.113-120
Winter 2023
DOI: 10.1111/jrh.12643
PMID: 34978349
Abstract
Continued closure of rural hospitals and labor & delivery units can impact timely access to care. Iowa has lost over a quarter of its labor & delivery units in the previous decade. Calculating how travel times to labor & delivery services have changed, and where in the state the largest travel times take place, are important for understanding access to this critical service.
Using parental address and facility location from birth certificate data in Iowa from 2013 to 2019, travel times to birth facility are assessed for rural, micropolitan, and metropolitan parents, as well as for complicated versus noncomplicated births and Medicaid versus non-Medicaid recipients.
Parts of the state have travel times that are consistently greater than 30 minutes over the duration of the study. The largest increases in travel times are found among micropolitan residents, particularly those experiencing complicated births. Travel times are consistently the longest for rural residents but increased only slightly over the study time period.
These findings suggest that access to hospital-based obstetric care is most changed for residents of small towns rather than rural or larger city residents.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Labor & delivery unit closures most impact travel times to birth locations for micropolitan residents in Iowa
- Creators
- Margaret Carrel - Department of Epidemiology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USABarbara C Keino - Department of Geographical & Sustainability Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USAKelli K Ryckman - Department of Epidemiology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USAStephanie Radke - Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USA
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- The Journal of rural health, Vol.39(1), pp.113-120
- DOI
- 10.1111/jrh.12643
- PMID
- 34978349
- NLM abbreviation
- J Rural Health
- ISSN
- 0890-765X
- eISSN
- 1748-0361
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Grant note
- U7AMC33719 / Maternal and Child Health Bureau
- Language
- English
- Electronic publication date
- 01/03/2022
- Date published season
- Winter 2023
- Date published
- 2023
- Academic Unit
- Stead Family Department of Pediatrics; Epidemiology; Obstetrics and Gynecology; Interdisciplinary Programs; Geographical and Sustainability Sciences; Internal Medicine
- Record Identifier
- 9984216624702771
Metrics
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