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Sen. Warner hopes to boost funding to rural hospitals amid obstetrics closures • Virginia Mercury [1]

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Date: 2024-06 

Amid the closures of obstetrics services at several rural hospitals around Virginia, state and federal lawmakers are hoping to help where they can.

Republican lawmakers from southwest Virginia earmarked funding in the new state budget to attract OB-GYN medical residents, while Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Warner has drafted a bill to help limit obstetrics closures.

Dubbed the “Keep Obstetrics Local Act,” the federal legislation would increase Medicaid payment rates for labor and delivery services to hospitals in rural and high-need urban areas. It would also provide payments to help hospitals cover the cost of staffing and maintaining obstetrics at low-volume hospitals and require all states to provide postpartum Medicaid coverage for up to 12 months after birth (which Virginia already does).

Recruiting and retaining these professionals is one reason rural hospitals are shutting down their obstetrics units.

“In some parts of Virginia, we’ve got a declining population, but also if you’re an OB-GYN, you can make more money in a suburb or urban area,” Warner said.

Money is both a problem and solution, Southwest Virginia resident Wendy Welch said.

As the director of the Southwest Virginia Graduate Medical Education Consortium, Welch’s organization helps cover costs of bringing medical residents into Virginia.

While family practice doctors and midwives play an important role in care for pregnant people, OB-GYN doctors can be useful for high-risk pregnancies and complicated births. They’re also a key component of hospitals having obstetrics units.

“To catch a unicorn — to catch someone who’s that valuable and knows they’re that valuable, you need a whole lot of stuff to attract them now,” Southwest Virginia resident Wendy Welch previously told the Mercury. “If they’re a kayaker or their mom is in Southwest Virginia, you’ve got them, but if not, how are you going to get them here?”

Warner said his bill can help hospital systems spend money to recruit and pay OB-GYN specialists. He noted how addressing maternal healthcare intersects with other work that public and private sectors are doing to bolster rural communities such as job creation and broadband buildout.

“We’re not going to bring good quality jobs if a future young mom can’t get the health care she needs,” Warner said.

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[1] Url: https://virginiamercury.com/briefs/sen-warner-hopes-to-boost-funding-to-rural-hospitals-amid-obstetrics-closures/

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