Legislation Targeting Maternity Ward Closures Helps Families Seek Answers for Available Local Labor and Delivery Services, Says Consumer Watchdog

San Diego, Simi Valley, Latest to Face Closures

SACRAMENTO, Calif., April 17, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Assemblymember Akilah Weber's bill, AB 1895 requiring the state to conduct community impact assessments before hospitals may close California maternity wards, passed out of the Assembly Health Committee last night. Consumer Watchdog pointed to the bill's requirement that the hospital hold a community meeting before closing a maternity ward as a key reform. 

"Communities in San Diego and Simi Valley facing imminent maternity ward closures, and the many that have already lost this resource, know how critical it is to give families a place to voice concerns and provide pregnant mothers with an earlier closure notice so they can plan for the delivery of their babies," said Michele Monserratt-Ramos, Kathy Olsen Patient Safety Advocate for Consumer Watchdog.

In addition to the community impact assessment by the Department of Health Care Access and the Department of Public Health, Assembly Bill 1895 will require hospitals that plan on closing labor and delivery units to notify the state at least 12 months prior to closure, versus the current 90 day notice. The hospital will also be required to post public notification on its website within 90 days of closure. The public will be able to comment on the closure within 60 days, and the hospital must hold at least one public hearing regarding the maternity ward closure.

At least 46 hospitals in California have closed or suspended their labor and delivery units since 2012 and many of these closures have led to maternity care deserts in lower socio-economic communities. The latest, Scripps Mercy Chula Vista hospital in San Diego, is planning on closing its labor and delivery unit in June, and Adventist Health Simi Valley will close its Labor/Delivery and NICU services on May 8, 2024. 

Physicians and nurses marched to a Chula Vista City Council meeting last month to present their concerns with the impact of the closure on access to maternity services. Patients at Scripps Chula Vista shared their concerns that they had no idea where they would be delivering their babies. The public and health care providers called for the California Department of Public Health to conduct an impact investigation of local maternity services in the area. Their requests for an impact investigation were later denied by the California Department of Public Health.

"We can expect more poor maternal outcomes and an increase in maternal mortality as hospital labor and delivery units continue to close," wrote Consumer Watchdog in a letter supporting AB 1895. "Pregnant mothers need access to maternity services and for those services to be located in close proximity to where they live. In an event of a maternity ward closure, pregnant mothers must be provided with information and resources so they can plan for where they deliver their babies."

"We believe that AB 1895's call for the Department of Health Care Access and the California Department of Public Health to conduct a community impact assessment to determine that there are adequate local maternity services in the area and a required public hearing to provide the public with the opportunity to provide input and receive information on other resources is a step in the right direction." 

"The labor and delivery unit closures are prevalent in rural and lower income areas and are deeply impacting minority families and mothers of a lower socio-economic background. The maternal mortality crisis in our state is disproportionately impacting these same communities."

Read the letter.

According to a recent March of Dimes report on the decreased access to maternity care, labor and delivery unit closures are linked to a lack of women's health care, lack of prenatal care, and an increased risk of maternal death.

SOURCE Consumer Watchdog