ICYMI: HHS Secretary Becerra Visits Dartmouth-Hitchcock Birthing Pavilion to Discusses Maternal Health Deserts in Region

Yesterday, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services visited Lebanon, New Hampshire to address the diminishing access to maternal health care in rural areas. The birthing pavilion at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, where Secretary Xavier Becerra spoke, sees patients from Vermont and New Hampshire. Secretary Becerra emphasized the need for more support from Washington to combat the issue, including preserving telehealth options threatened by potential legislative changes, and U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan emphasized the importance of depoliticizing reproductive care to attract health care professionals to the region.

In the past 20 years, New Hampshire has closed 11 labor and delivery units.

“It's really important that we stop politicizing reproductive care and let health care professionals know that when they come to practice in a place like New Hampshire or anywhere across the United States, they will be respected as the professionals they are to work with their patients and meet their patients where they are,” said Senator Maggie Hassan while joining Senator Becerra in Lebanon.

In 2021, former-New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Lori Shibinette highlighted the fragility of New Hampshire’s positive maternal health outcomes and also noted the role that politicizing reproductive health care plays in New Hampshire’s inability to attract providers to the state: “I think that it makes sense that specialty and subspeciality providers would typically settle in states that are more supportive and less restrictive around family planning and abortion. The more restrictive we become, the less attractive New Hampshire becomes for those specialties.”

As one of only eight states in the country where free-standing birth centers are prohibited, Vermonters have even fewer options for where to give birth and many travel across state lines to birth in New Hampshire. The increasing shortage of birthing facilities in New Hampshire has adverse impacts on Vermonters who already have limited choice in birthing options. 

In March of 2022, Secretary Becerra visited the Manchester, NH Planned Parenthood of Northern New England clinic to discuss funding needs for reproductive health care after the New Hampshire Executive Council rejected routine state funds. 

https://www.wmur.com/article/hhs-secretary-rural-maternity-care-new-hampshire/46873079

WMUR: HHS secretary discusses rural maternity care in New Hampshire

Becerra says many women forced to drive hours to deliver

By Adam Sexton

LEBANON, N.H. — Access to maternal health care for women in rural areas is shrinking across the country, and on Tuesday, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services heard more about the problem in New Hampshire.

Secretary Xavier Becerra said that Washington needs to do more to address the issue.

In the birthing pavilion at Dartmouth-Hitchcock in Lebanon, Becerra and U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-New Hampshire, heard from providers about the expectant mothers in New Hampshire and Vermont who rely on the hospital.

"We have women who have to drive for two hours to deliver now, so maternity deserts, they exist in New Hampshire," said Dr. Joanne Conroy, president of Dartmouth Health.

Maternity deserts are the growing swaths of the United States where women do not have nearby access to obstetric care.

"Clearly, we could do better, especially in rural communities where it takes forever to get to one of those major hospitals if you really need them," Becerra said. "So we're going to try to do more and put assets in place in rural communities, so they can access the care they need faster."

There's no easy way to replicate a maternity ward. Becerra said that for some appointments, telehealth could help, but that option, which expanded during the pandemic, is also at risk.

"By the end of this year, if the Senate and House don't act, we're going to lose the flexibility to reimburse providers for providing care through telehealth in many aspects, and that would be devastating, especially in rural communities," Becerra said.

Hassan said that political interference in obstetric care is part of what keeps practitioners out of some rural areas.

"One of the observations I'd make is it's really important that we stop politicizing reproductive care and let health care professionals know that when they come to practice in a place like New Hampshire or anywhere across the United States, they will be respected as the professionals they are to work with their patients and meet their patients where they are," Hassan said.

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About Planned Parenthood of Northern New England: PPNNE is the largest provider of sexual and reproductive health care across Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. In FY22, PPNNE provided care to more than 36,000 patients for more than 52,000 visits. There are 15 health centers across the region, including four in New Hampshire. PPNNE was named a 2021 and 2022 Guardian of Excellence Award® winner by Press Ganey, the national leader in health care consumer and workforce engagement. Press Ganey recognizes PPNNE as a top-performing health care organization, achieving the 95th percentile or above for performance in patient experience, out of more than 20,000 medical practices.