Rural Tennessee hospitals struggling to maintain labor and delivery services

A recent study has shown Tennessee’s rural hospitals may be losing labor and delivery services - even as the state rates second-worst in the country for maternal mortality rates.  A a new report from the Center for Health Care Quality and Payment Reform, a national health policy think tank, found five of the 24 rural hospitals. Decreasing birth rates as well as the fact that Medicaid pays for half the births in hospitals are contributing to this decision. Low payments from Medicaid do not cover the high cost of staffing these departments, which are already struggling to fill positions.