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Rural maternity care crisis
FOX 13's Briona Arradondo reports.
TAMPA, Fla. - Driving an hour away to the hospital due to lack of access to maternity care is a reality for pregnant women as a new report out shows fewer hospitals are delivering babies.
What we know:
Expectant mothers know to expect a lot of doctor visits.
"You go to the doctor every four weeks in the beginning, every two weeks in the second or in the third trimester and then every week for that last month," said Dr. Mary Ashley Cain, an associate professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at TGH/USF Health.
But, those trips are easier said than done for moms-to-be in rural communities, traveling more than 50 minutes on average in Florida.
"We do have those patients that are in those rural areas that, again, have to travel a distance from Hardee to Hillsborough, from Pasco to North Pinellas, you know, that have to come quite a distance just for their appointments," said Careen Rush, the maternal telehealth program manager at Orlando Health Bayfront Hospital in St. Petersburg.
By the numbers:
A January 2026 maternity care report from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform found less than 33 percent of rural hospitals in Florida provide maternity care.
More than 120 rural hospitals nationwide closed since 2020, the report said.
"There is always a risk to closing labor and delivery units, especially in a more rural area due to the amount of resources that it does take to care for both mom and baby," said Dr. Victoria Selley, chief medical officer at AdventHealth Sebring in Highlands County.
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AdventHealth Sebring is the only hospital in a tri-county area that provides labor and delivery services.
"Working in a rural community hospital, those are my friends and family that I'm caring for," said Selley.
Why you should care:
Orlando Health Bayfront in St. Petersburg uses a maternal telehealth program to help reach rural maternity patients.
Rush said federal legislation helped designate money at the state level for maternal telehealth coverage throughout the state.
"They started running some pilot programs on how we could reach this population, particularly in the rural areas in those healthcare deserts where a lot of moms do look for delivering hospitals," said Rush.
She said Orlando Health Bayfront expanded the program from Pinellas and Pasco counties into Hardee, Highlands, Manatee, and Polk counties.
"There's lot of options that we're looking at for future expansion to go out to where they are rather than an outreach, rather than them come to wherever the provider is sitting," said Rush.
Dig deeper:
A new Orlando Health hospital is going up in Wesley Chapel, but it won’t include maternity care.
But in those cases, doctors said guidelines for helping pregnant patients, especially high-risk ones, are critical.
"They may not be able to take care of all of those steps, but we're working throughout the state to help other hospitals and other providers in some of these maternity deserts recognize it and know where they can send a patient," said Cain.
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Maternity deserts may not go away, but Tampa Bay area doctors said they’re committed to keeping the existing care in place.
"Those of us that are in these communities are holding on to our labor and deliver units as tightly as we can because we know the value of what that provides to the community. It really is about one patient, right, that it makes a difference for," said Selley.
The Source: The information in this story came from The Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform and interviews with Tampa Bay hospital systems, and it was reported by FOX13’s Briona Arradondo.