This will be the 12th maternity service closure in Massachusetts – five of which have occurred in Gateway Cities – since 2010. The state technically doesn’t have any maternity care deserts – counties without hospitals or birth centers offering obstetric care, and no obstetric providers. But recent losses have experts and advocates sounding the alarm.
Maternal health
Posted inHealth Care
State audit claims 2023 maternity unit closure in Leominster was preventable
The issue appears to be a spat about accounting records, but it highlights the struggles health providers had during the height of the first COVID waves, when frontline medical personnel were stretched thin, and how the business of health care has made it increasingly difficult to deliver services like maternity care across the state.
Posted inHealth Care
Suspension of maternity services at Mercy Medical Center sparks fears of permanent closure
Mercy Medical Center in Springfield announced last week that it plans to temporarily halt maternity and newborn services at its Family Life Center starting December 8, sparking fears the hospital will be next in a decade-long trend of statewide maternity unit closures in a region where labor and delivery options have already dwindled.
Posted inHealth Care
Two years after the closure of Leominster’s maternity unit, a region is struggling
It’s been two years since Clinton Hospital’s maternity unit closed. The fallout of the closure paints a complicated picture in a state without maternity care deserts. But experts and advocates say recent losses and impending cuts to Medicaid make maternal health care access in Massachusetts something that stands to get worse.
Posted inHealth
House, Senate come to terms on maternal health
The conference committee accord, which lead House negotiator Rep. Marjorie Decker filed just after 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, is the first big piece of legislation to emerge from closed-door talks after lawmakers ended formal sessions this month with major loose ends.
