A recent Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform report found that more than 57% of U.S. rural hospitals do not offer labor and delivery services. A Dec. 4 JAMA Network study also found that more than 500 hospitals have closed labor and delivery departments since 2010.
Becker’s has reported on the following hospitals ending maternity care in 2025, along with closure plans, pauses and transfer statuses:
1. Burlington, Kan.-based Coffey County Hospital has shared plans to end its obstetrics services, effective June 30.
2. Houlton (Maine) Regional Hospital has shared plans to end its inpatient labor and delivery unit, effective May 2, due to a decline in volume.
3. Corydon, Ind.-based Harrison County Hospital ended its obstetric services March 31 after evaluating national physician recruitment challenges.
4. Bar Harbor, Maine-based Mount Desert Island Hospital will end its labor and delivery unit July 1 due to a “dramatic decline in births.”
5. Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Health closed its Bloomin’ Babies Birth Center in Grand Junction, Colo., on March 28 due to a declining birth rate and an unsustainable decrease in new patients at the freestanding birth center.
6. UPMC Cole Hospital, a 25-bed facility in Coudersport, Pa., plans to close its three-bed obstetrics unit, effective April 7. UPMC is consolidating services at UPMC Wellsboro (Pa.) Hospital.
7. La Junta, Colo.-based Arkansas Valley Regional Medical Center will end its obstetrics services, effective April 30, due to challenges like low monthly birth rates, underfunding by the Colorado Medicaid program for obstetric services and financial losses.
8. Brewer, Maine-based Northern Light Health closed birthing services at Northern Light Inland Hospital and at Northern Light Women’s Health, both in Waterville, Maine, on March 1.
9. Winner (S.D.) Regional Health closed its labor and delivery services Feb. 1 due to physician recruitment challenges and reimbursement difficulties.
10. Stuart, Fla.-based Cleveland Clinic Martin North Hospital closed its labor and delivery services April 1 and transferred them to Port St. Lucie, Fla.-based Cleveland Clinic Tradition Hospital. The service changes are the result of a comprehensive evaluation to optimize care delivery, address local and national OB-GYN staffing shortages, and focus resources on key areas.
11. ThedaCare Medical Center Waupaca (Wis.) ended labor and delivery services Feb. 15 due to a demand shift among expectant mothers, and a decline in deliveries and mothers looking to deliver at larger birth centers.
12. Belfast-based MaineHealth Waldo Hospital ended its obstetrics and labor and delivery services on April 1.
13. Mayo Clinic Health System in Fairmont, Minn., closed its surgical and labor and delivery units on March 31. The closure was due to a shortage of physicians in the area.
