A Geographic Analysis of Distance to Obstetric Hospital Care and OBGYN Residencies in the United States

Principal Investigator: Brooke Lombardi, PhD, MSW

Limited geographic access to obstetric care jeopardizes timely, high-quality maternity care and contributes to preventable maternal morbidity and mortality, especially in rural and underserved areas of the United States. Strengthening the obstetric workforce through targeted training capacity is one potential strategy to address these access gaps. This study will examine the geographic distribution of hospitals with an obstetric unit and the location of obstetrics and gynecology (OBGYN) residency training sites using drive-time analysis. The study will utilize administrative and publicly available datasets to identify areas with obstetric services and will assess travel time between women of childbearing age and delivery hospitals. As obstetric unit closures continue to rise in both urban and rural hospitals across the United States, this project provides an update to maternity care access and highlights where training capacity could be expanded to help reduce disparities in maternal health outcomes.