topic Re: California closing maternity wards in Community Chat

California closing maternity wards

simplyfriends — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 20:35:56 GMT

Please don't make this political. I find it sad that so many hospitals here are having to close their maternity wards due to labor shortages, high costs due to inflation and declining birth rates. I'm sure it's not just California.

Re: California closing maternity wards

Sooner — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 20:38:44 GMT

More people, jobs go begging. Something is very wrong in this equation.

Re: California closing maternity wards

kaydee50 — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 20:40:54 GMT

It seems to me that hospitals in general are closing. I know of several that have closed entirely. I guess people aren't getting sick enough to require hospitalization???

Re: California closing maternity wards

SilleeMee — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 20:50:49 GMT

Hospitals are businesses. They experience the same losses (and gains in some instances) as any other business today. Inflation, declining number of patients and cash sources dwindling all effect a business.

Re: California closing maternity wards

skatting44 — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 20:51:37 GMT

A few years ago, I had read that Obstetricians incur high rates of professional insurance , so many Doctors do no go into that field of medicine .

Re: California closing maternity wards

haddon9 — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 20:52:24 GMT

Financial pressure & staff shortage. Where are some of these women supposed to go?

Re: California closing maternity wards

Kachina624 — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 20:54:02 GMT

I was not aware that maternity "wards" still existed.

Re: California closing maternity wards

lgfan — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 20:55:44 GMT

@haddon9 wrote:
Financial pressure & staff shortage. Where are some of these women supposed to go?

Maybe they will end up going to birthing centers and midwives.

Re: California closing maternity wards

simplyfriends — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 21:01:06 GMT

@Kachina624 that's what they still call them here. Maybe maternity department is better.

Re: California closing maternity wards

chrystaltree — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 21:19:47 GMT

It's mostly due to declining birth rates, low insurance payments and rising expenses. We haven't had maternity hospitals in this state in many years. They couldn't survive financially and either went out of business or joined larger hospitals. Now, some of those big hospitals are closing their maternity wards. Not enough babies being born to make it profitable. This forced women to drive long distances for prenatal care and to deliver.

Re: California closing maternity wards

meem120 — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 21:26:14 GMT

@skatting44 A ObGyn Dr with no malpractice claims insurance can run around $100,000a year. Depending on the area of the country they practice. If a Dr has a claim or several their insurance can be well over $150,000 and can be cancelled if they have bad outcomes insurance wise. These estimates are much lower if the doc doesnt deliver babies and only practice Gynecology and does not include Obstetrics in their practice.Many of these lawsuits are frivilous as we live in a letigious society. But it can ruin a good Dr. Also when they deliver, a Dr has to hold on to delivery records for many many years in case a problem arises and it MAY be due to an obstetrical error.

Re: California closing maternity wards

rockygems123 — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 21:27:55 GMT

@simplyfriends

When I had my son 27 years ago in a SF Bay Area hospital the maternity ward was closing 1 week later and consolidating with another hospital. Ironically it was going to the hospital where my mother had worked as an RN.

They were lame ducks and weren't interested in providing care, they wanted out of the old hospital. It was pretty bad.

What I don't get is the current volume of 24 hour care "emergency" facilities. We counted 8 of them once within a square mile. Several have closed since then. Seems like a scam.

@SilleeMee do you have that in your part of Colorado? It's crazy, one even took over a Burger King ha.

Re: California closing maternity wards

Winkk — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 21:28:26 GMT

I think this happening all over and not just maternity departments. Hospitals make money from surgeries but there are a lot of free standing surgical centers popping up.

And what makes it worse is these are quite frequently funded by doctors that work at the hospital. The cost for surgery is usually lower so insurance companies love them. The surgical centers don't have the overhead costs that hospitals have.

Re: California closing maternity wards

SilleeMee — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 21:38:30 GMT

@rockygems123 wrote:
@simplyfriends

When I had my son 27 years ago in a SF Bay Area hospital the maternity ward was closing 1 week later and consolidating with another hospital. Ironically it was going to the hospital where my mother had worked as an RN.

They were lame ducks and weren't interested in providing care, they wanted out of the old hospital. It was pretty bad.

What I don't get is the current volume of 24 hour care "emergency" facilities. We counted 8 of them once within a square mile. Several have closed since then. Seems like a scam.

@SilleeMee do you have that in your part of Colorado? It's crazy, one even took over a Burger King ha.

@rockygems123

No but we have several hospital-owned urgent care facilities scattered around the city here plus there are after-hour care places located right next to hospitals.We also have a few birth centers and womens' hospitals here. There's no shortage of health care facilities in Colorado Springs. Seems like there are new medical campuses going up often. It's a boom-town here. We need more places to accommodate the expanding population.

Re: California closing maternity wards

granddi — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 21:57:53 GMT

@meem120 wrote:
@skatting44 A ObGyn Dr with no malpractice claims insurance can run around $100,000a year. Depending on the area of the country they practice. If a Dr has a claim or several their insurance can be well over $150,000 and can be cancelled if they have bad outcomes insurance wise. These estimates are much lower if the doc doesnt deliver babies and only practice Gynecology and does not include Obstetrics in their practice.Many of these lawsuits are frivilous as we live in a letigious society. But it can ruin a good Dr. Also when they deliver, a Dr has to hold on to delivery records for many many years in case a problem arises and it MAY be due to an obstetrical error.

At the start of 2021, nearly 70% of U.S. physicians were employed by hospital systems or other corporate entities, such as private equity firms and insurers, leaving just three out of 10 of the nation's physicians practicing in independent medical practices.

As employees of the hospital, the individual doctor does not personally pay for professional insurance.

Re: California closing maternity wards

Laura14 — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 21:58:29 GMT

In the South, it's for reasons that we can't go into on this board.

Our OB/GYNs face criminal prosecution for certain care decisions and therefore have gone elsewhere not wanting to risk it or not wanting to tell a patient they, by law, cannot treat them.

I think Alabama is almost completely without in most of the state now.

Re: California closing maternity wards

millieshops — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 21:58:51 GMT

@rockygems123 I think there are lots of problems easily handled by a well-staffed walk-in clinic. That leaves the hospital emergency rooms space and staff to deal with what is thought to be more serious. Several months ago I fell and cracked open my skull. I was in the emergency room for hours - first with the doctor and several assistants mopping blood, followed by the doctor applying a row of staples to close the wound, but I also needed a test in case I'd had a concussion. The doctor felt strongly they should rule out a concussion. They did!

We have several excellent walk-in clinics nearby, but there's a reason the co-pays are less for them than the hospital emergency room.

I don't think the emergency room staff just wants to collect dollars. In my discharge papers, I saw 4 suggestions of how to have the staples removed - the ER was listed last - with my insurance, I was pleased. Saved $50 even though I do have co-pays.

Re: California closing maternity wards

Mersha — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 22:03:33 GMT

@Laura14 wrote:
In the South, it's for reasons that we can't go into on this board.

Our OB/GYNs face criminal prosecution for certain care decisions and therefore have gone elsewhere not wanting to risk it or not wanting to tell a patient they, by law, cannot treat them.

I think Alabama is almost completely without in most of the state now.

@Laura14 The doctor will end up in jail for trying to save a mother's life.

Why on earth would a doctor subject himself/herself to that?

Time for them to move on to other places.

Re: California closing maternity wards

Laura14 — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 22:07:41 GMT

@Mersha Not to mention having to live here and start a family of your own.

My family member is in health care here and he can't understand the shortage with the big raises in pay.

My answer to him was people have to live here and, as a young woman looking to have a family, I wouldn't.

Re: California closing maternity wards

Love my grandkids — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 22:23:05 GMT

The large excellent hospitals here in King County in Washington have birthing centers and are really fantastic from what I've read and seen photos of.