Publication Date: June 5th, 2015
Publication Type(s): Policy Brief
Topic(s): Hospitals and Clinics, Quality, Women
Author(s): Kozhimannil K., Casey M., Hung P., Prasad S., Moscovice I.
This policy brief describes the extent to which rural pregnant women give birth in non-local hospitals, and to analyze current patterns of non-local delivery by rural women’s health insurance status and residential rurality.
Key Findings:
- In nine geographically-diverse states with substantial rural populations, 25.4% of rural pregnant women delivered their babies in non-local hospitals in 2010 and 2012.
- Rural women living in more densely populated rural areas were less likely to give birth in a non-local hospital (19.5%) than those in less densely populated rural areas, either next to a metropolitan area (35.9%) or not (33.7%).
- Privately-insured rural women were more likely to give birth in non-local hospitals than rural women who were covered by Medicaid (28.6% vs. 22.5%).
- Rural women with Medicaid coverage were more likely than privately-insured women to deliver their babies in a hospital where more than half of all births were covered by Medicaid (63.8% vs. 36.7%).