LHA Trust Funds Supporting Maternal Healthcare Access in Louisiana's Obstetric Deserts

Louisiana mothers are facing a growing crisis that requires healthcare leaders to act. With more than a quarter of parishes classified as maternity care deserts, pregnant women across the state are struggling to access even the most basic prenatal services.

In our latest article, explore how these care gaps are affecting outcomes for mothers and their babies—and see how your organization can be part of the solution.

Louisiana is facing a critical maternal health challenge: the rise of obstetric (OB) desert regions where access to maternity care is severely limited or nonexistent.

These areas, often rural and underserved, lack hospitals with obstetric services, certified nurse midwives, or OB-GYNs which leave thousands of women to travel long distances—sometimes over 50 miles—to receive basic prenatal or delivery services.

Currently, maternal healthcare in Louisiana ranks among the worst in the country, and the state often appears in top rankings for maternal mortality rates. A combination of limited healthcare infrastructure, high poverty levels, and geographic barriers has contributed to worsening outcomes for expecting mothers.

What Is an OB Care Desert?

In Louisiana, OB care deserts are growing as rural hospitals close maternity wards and leave entire parishes without options. This scarcity has a direct impact on maternal and infant outcomes—especially among vulnerable populations. According to the March of Dimes, more than 25% of Louisiana’s parishes meet the definition of a maternity care desert.

These are areas with:

• No hospitals providing obstetric care
• No birth centers
• No OB-GYNs or certified nurse midwives
• Limited access to prenatal care providers

This lack of care leads to serious consequences: higher rates of preterm births, low birth weights, increased maternal mortality and morbidity, and greater reliance on emergency departments for labor and delivery.

Barriers to Maternal Healthcare Across Louisiana

Women in OB care deserts often have to travel hours for prenatal appointments or risk giving birth in underprepared facilities. Barriers like transportation, healthcare staffing shortages, and hospital closures continue to widen the care gap.

Here are the biggest barriers contributing to Louisiana’s OB care deserts:

Geographic Barriers
A growing number of parishes lack any obstetric services, leaving residents with no childbirth-capable hospital within 30 minutes of their home. What’s more, about 75% of Louisiana’s rural hospitals no longer offer maternity services, forcing long travel times for pregnant women.

Provider Shortages
Significant scarcity of OB‑GYNs, midwives, and maternal-fetal specialists (especially in rural parishes) make it difficult for facilities to offer common maternity health services. Specialists that do work in Louisiana may have to travel state‑wide to serve patients in underserved areas.

Financial Barriers
Pregnant women in underserved communities may have difficulty accessing transportation to reach OB care providers outside of their area. Many of these women also rely on Medicaid benefits, which can further reduce their options for care.

How LHA Trust Funds is Helping Healthcare Organizations Respond

Improving prenatal care access in Louisiana means meeting mothers where they are. Programs like mobile maternity units and expanded telehealth services can bring vital prenatal support to patients in more isolated regions. Through our Maternal Health Toolkit, we provide resources to help facilities improve maternity care.

Additionally, organizations across the state are working to address OB deserts through several key initiatives:

• LRHA Maternal Health ECHO: An educational session for rural providers caring for pregnant patients, designed to reduce maternal and infant mortality.
• Obstetric Readiness Summer Sprint 2025: A five-part learning series hosted by Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health (AIM) that focuses on OB readiness for rural EMS and emergency departments, including mobile and telehealth solutions.
• Telehealth Expansion: Bringing prenatal consultations to remote areas.
• Mobile Maternity Units: Providing on-the-go care in rural parishes.
• HRSA Rural MOMS Program: A program funded by the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) to increase access to maternal and OB care in rural communities.
• LaPQC Initiatives: Improving quality of care in hospitals that still offer OB services. https://lapqc.org/

Why It Matters

The growing number of OB deserts in Louisiana seriously impacts the safety of mothers and babies. Access to maternal care significantly improves patient safety by ensuring timely, appropriate, and continuous healthcare throughout pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period.

Ready to start building a stronger, more responsive maternal care strategy for your facility? Our Maternal Health Toolkit offers practical, evidence-based resources to help your organization enhance safety for pregnant patients.