Oklahoma Hospital Uses Rural Health Funds to Restore Maternity Care
Newman Memorial Hospital, a critical access hospital in Shattuck, Oklahoma, plans to restore labor-and-delivery services next year after closing them in 2015, using funding from a federal rural health transformation initiative. Oklahoma received more than $223 million in first-year funding under the program, with Newman Memorial receiving $1.4 million through a state initiative aimed at improving local and specialty care access. The hospital is building a midwifery-forward model, pairing a certified nurse midwife handling low-risk births with rotating OB-GYNs for high-risk deliveries and surgeries, aiming to launch by early-to-mid next year. The effort comes as only 27% of Oklahoma's rural hospitals offer obstetric services and as nearly $1 trillion in federal Medicaid spending reductions over a decade loom, raising questions about the model's long-term sustainability.