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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Maternal health and prenatal care

Striving for Birth Equity: Family Medicine's Role in Overcoming Disparities in Maternal Morbidity and Mortality
Policy position paper examining disparities in maternal morbidity and mortality, and offering recommendations for ways in which family physicians, educators, and policy makers can facilitate and advocate for change. Mentions rural throughout.
Date: 2020
Sponsoring organization: American Academy of Family Physicians
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2020 Navajo Nation Maternal and Child Health Needs Assessment
Report documenting a Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Needs Assessment for the Navajo Nation reservation. Describes health status, healthcare system strengths and weaknesses, and uses a Navajo-specific cultural framework to discuss health outcomes in relation to environmental, community, family, and individual health. Offers data on demographics, environmental health, women's health, maternal health, perinatal and infant health, child health, and adolescent health.
Date: 2020
Sponsoring organizations: Arizona Department of Health Services, Navajo Nation Department of Health, Navajo Native American Research Centers for Health
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Birth Settings in America: Outcomes, Quality, Access, and Choice
Examines factors that influence maternal and newborn care in the United States, including social determinants such as geographic variability in access to birth settings. Explores challenges faced by women in rural and underserved areas. Includes statistics on infant mortality rates in 2014 with breakdowns by rural or urban locations, and county-level maps showing access to providers and hospitals offering obstetric services.
Additional links: Read Online
Author(s): Board on Children, Youth, and Families
Date: 2020
Sponsoring organization: Health and Medicine Division (HMD), National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
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Rural-Urban Differences In Severe Maternal Morbidity And Mortality In The US, 2007–15
Analyzes severe maternal morbidity and mortality among rural and urban residents during childbirth. Examines data from the 2007-2015 National Inpatient Sample with breakdowns according to age, insurance type, race/ethnicity, income, Census region, and rurality. Discusses policy implications and strategies to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality.
Author(s): Katy Backes Kozhimannil, Julia D. Interrante, Carrie Henning-Smith, Lindsay K. Admon
Citation: Health Affairs, 38, 12
Date: 12/2019
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Rural–Urban Disparities in Pregnancy Intentions, Births, and Abortions Among US Adolescent and Young Women, 1995–2017
Study examining disparities in intendedness and resolution of first pregnancies among rural and urban adolescent and young women using 2002-2017 data from the National Survey of Family Growth. Breaks down data by race/ethnicity, by urban, rural, and suburban residence, and by state. Discusses public health implications of the findings.
Author(s): April Sutton, Daniel T. Lichter, Sharon Sassler
Citation: American Journal of Public Health, 109(12), 1762-1769
Date: 12/2019
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The Landscape of Obstetric Resources and Risks in Indiana: A Framework for Informing Policy
Provides insight on access to obstetric care resources and infant or maternal health risk factors in Indiana communities. Presents a framework that can be used for targeting state and health system policy and planning by analyzing resources, such as obstetric providers and hospitals with obstetric services, and health risks. Includes a county-level map with breakdowns showing 4 levels of access to obstetric care services, 3 levels of maternal or infant health risks, and shadings to indicate rural counties.
Author(s): Hannah Maxey, Courtney Randolph, Sierra Vaughn
Date: 12/2019
Sponsoring organization: Bowen Center for Health Workforce Research and Policy
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Newborns with Withdrawal Symptoms Caused by Maternal Exposure to Select Substances
Reports on the use of International Classification of Diseases (ICD) diagnosis codes describing withdrawal symptoms of newborns impacted by maternal exposure to certain substances, and identifies the number of newborns impacted by exposure using data from Oklahoma's Medicaid and birth certificate records. Lists clinical symptoms and conditions present among affected newborns, and offers data on the demographic distribution by county, select maternal characteristics, and birth outcomes of newborns with withdrawal symptoms.
Date: 12/2019
Sponsoring organization: Oklahoma State Department of Health
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Maternal Characteristics and Birth Outcomes among Oklahoma Medicaid: 2016 SoonerCare – Birth Data Linkage Report
Examines birth outcomes of mothers with live births paid by SoonerCare, Oklahoma's Medicaid, versus mothers with live births not paid by SoonerCare using 2016 data from the Oklahoma Medicaid Management Information Systems of the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, and the Center for Health Statistics division of the Oklahoma State Department of Health. Data compared includes race and ethnicity, age, education, marital status, infant birth weight, rural/urban residence, and starting trimester for prenatal care.
Date: 12/2019
Sponsoring organization: Oklahoma State Department of Health
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Maternity Care in California: A Bundle of Data
Overview of maternity care services provided in California using state data from CDC WONDER (Centers for Disease and Prevention) and the California Open Data Portal with comparisons to national data. Includes California county maps demonstrating preterm birth rates and infant mortality.
Date: 11/2019
Sponsoring organization: California Health Care Foundation
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Telemedicine in Sexual and Reproductive Health
Overview of telemedicine use in sexual and reproductive healthcare by patients, and by providers in metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas. Reviews the potential of telemedicine to increase access particularly in rural areas, identifies the range of reproductive health services facilitated by telemedicine, and covers Medicaid reimbursement, insurance coverage, and investment costs.
Author(s): Gabriela Weigel, Brittni Frederiksen, Usha Ranji, Alina Salganicoff
Date: 11/2019
Sponsoring organization: KFF
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