Mercy hospital ending labor, delivery services citing providers staffing challenges
CHI Health spokesperson says Council Bluffs hospital is at 'no risk' of closing
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CHI Health Mercy Council Bluffs will soon end its labor and delivery services.
Bailey Nielsen, CHI Health communications manager, confirmed to The Nonpareil Wednesday that local services would be transferred to CHI Health birth centers in Omaha effective Aug. 31.
"Patients will continue seeing the same physicians and receive the same high-quality care," Nielsen said. "We’re working directly with every expectant mother to help ensure a smooth transition."
CHI Health Mercy Hospital Maternity Center Director Joanna Smith, left, and Vice President of Patient Care Services Denise McNitt tour the renovated maternity department at the Council Bluffs hospital on Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021.
While labor and delivery transition, prenatal and women's health services will remain available in Council Bluffs, Nielsen said.
On Thursday, CHI Health released a statement calling the decision "difficult" and attributing it to a lack of available providers.
"This was a difficult decision and not one we made lightly," CHI Health said in the statement. "Despite our ongoing efforts, it has become increasingly difficult to sustain the provider coverage and specialized clinical support needed to operate labor and delivery and Level II NICU services over the long term. These are challenges hospitals and health systems across Iowa and the country are facing, particularly around provider availability and specialized clinical coverage."
CHI Health Mercy's maternity department was renovated in 2021.
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In June, nonprofit consumer advocacy organization Public Citizen released a report that said Medicaid spending cuts put 446 hospitals at risk of closing or reducing services.
The report named three hospitals in Iowa as at risk of closing, including CHI Health Mercy in Council Bluffs, but it's unclear whether or how that contributed to the decision to stop offering labor and delivery services.
CHI Health said in its statement that attributing its decision to stop offering labor and delivery services at the Council Bluffs hospital "would be inaccurate."
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Andy House, CHI Health's director of communications of the Midwest Division, told The Nonpareil in a phone call Thursday after the the story was initially published that "there is no risk for Mercy Council Bluffs closing."
The statement added: "Mercy Council Bluffs remains an important part of CHI Health, and we remain committed to serving the Council Bluffs community."
CHI Health's Omaha metropolitan area birth centers deliver more than 4,460 babies each year, Nielsen said, which includes births in Council Bluffs. The health system's Omaha birth centers are located just 15 minutes away.
In April, an event hosted by the Council Bluffs Area Chamber of Commerce offered insight into the healthcare system and some of the challenges Council Bluffs’ hospitals face.
New Council Bluffs Chamber series explores challenges faced by city's hospitals
The event featured David Burd and Kristin Blum, the CEOs of Methodist Jennie Edmundson Hospital and CHI Mercy Hospital respectively, as guest speakers.
Both stressed the importance of Council Bluffs’ growth to help the system maintain the current level of care.
“There will be a time, I'm the most positive, where it will be hard to argue for, and for us to get capital, to continue doing projects, to continue making our facilities better, if our community doesn't grow along with us,” Burd said in April.
"Over the last 20 years in Iowa, there has been a major decline in the number of hospitals that provide labor and delivery services, most often in rural areas," Cass Health in Atlantic said in a 2023 statement.
Outside of Council Bluffs, labor and delivery is offered at Southwest Iowa hospitals in Atlantic, Harlan and Shenandoah.
Rural patients, especially those with higher risk pregnancies who were already commuting to a larger regional center such as CHI Health Mercy, will likely need to add more time to their commute in Omaha — though many may be traveling to there for maternity care now as well.
Methodist Jennie Edmundson Hospital could also see a uptick in need for maternity care.
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