The availability of maternity care services varies considerably throughout New Jersey hospitals with those having the fewest services are more likely to serve Hispanic patients, while those with the most services serve a larger proportion of White patients, according to Rutgers Health researchers. These are among the key findings of a Rutgers School of Public Health report titled, “Assessing the Availability of Maternity Care Services at NJ Hospitals: Access to Midwives, Doulas and Lactation Consultants,” which evaluates efforts of the statewide initiative Nurture NJ to expand access to critical maternity care services provided by midwives, doulas and lactation consultants.
Launched in 2019, Nurture NJ aims to make New Jersey “the safest and most equitable place in the nation to deliver and raise a baby.” Policies advancing this goal include making doula care a Medicaid-covered benefit, increasing reimbursement rates for providers (including pay equity for midwives and obstetricians), ensuring doulas have access to hospitals and investing in midwifery education and training to expand the workforce.
To assess the availability of maternity care services following these efforts, members of the Rutgers School of Public Health evaluation team collaborated with the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute to analyze data from the 2024 Maternity Care Report by the Leapfrog Group, a national non-profit that collects and reports on hospital care metrics, combined with NJ Department of Health hospital demographic data. To read the full story.