Women’s health care in Oklahoma ranked one of the worst in the nation

An obstetrician performs an ultrasound on a pregnant woman at the hospital. (Getty Images) (This image cannot be republished without a Getty subscription.)

OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma ranked among the worst states in the United States for women’s health and reproductive care, according to a new national health scorecard.

Ranked at 48, only Texas and Mississippi performed worse.

The state’s most recent maternal mortality rate is 31.9 deaths per 100,000 live births, above the national average of 26.3 deaths, according to the Commonwealth Fund analysis. When it comes to coverage, access and affordability of health care for women in Oklahoma, the state ranked 45th using 2022 data.

David Radley, a senior scientist with the Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation supporting independent health care research, said the data reflects a time beyond the larger effects of COVID-19 and includes the beginning of strict abortion bans in states like Oklahoma.

“When I looked through the data for Oklahoma, the takeaway is that it really comes down to (health care) access issues,” Radley said.

He said that because Oklahoma passed Medicaid expansion in 2021, access and affordability to health care for women could improve over time as more Oklahomans are insured.

A study from the March of Dimes revealed that over half of Oklahoma’s counties are considered health care deserts. Only 21 have “full access” to health care, meaning the county has at least two obstetric providers or more than 60 hospitals or birth centers offering obstetric care.

The same study found that while the average distance to a birthing hospital is about 11 miles, travel can reach up to 60 miles. For Oklahomans in urban or metropolitan areas, the average distance is about 10 miles, while in rural areas the average grows to 16 miles.

But the average distance to reach maternity care is 30 miles for Oklahomans living in a health care desert.

Radley said providers and medical students need to be incentivized to live and work in rural communities. Incentives could include student loan forgiveness programs or training medical professionals in the area to expand their skills to be able to serve entire communities.

Geography is only one barrier to accessing health care, cost is another.

The Commonwealth Fund reported that 23% of women of child-bearing age did not go to a doctor when they needed care due to cost.

“Women in Oklahoma reported not being able to go to the doctor because they couldn’t afford it. Skipping care when they needed it because they couldn’t afford it,” Radley said.

A “catastrophic” lack of providers

The barriers of cost and distance are only exacerbated by the lack of providers in Oklahoma.

A study from the Association of American Medical Colleges revealed that for the second year in a row, students graduating from U.S. medical schools were less likely to apply for residency positions in states with abortion bans.

Mary Gowin, director of primary care health policy at the University of Oklahoma’s Health Sciences Center, said that while she’s not aware of studies using Oklahoma data, she’s heard anecdotal reports of students being more selective in their residency programs.

“I’ve been working in this role in mentoring medical students,” Gowin said. “So I do think that policy plays a role in every medical student’s decision for residency, and especially if policies within that state don’t align with their personal beliefs.”

Gowin called the current ratio of providers to patients “catastrophic.” She said there are about 11,000 patients for every OB-GYN in the state.

She said there are many ways to improve the current situation, but it all comes down to money.

“The next step is to start to intervene,” Gowin said. “One of the best ways our Legislature could do that is to dedicate funds to addressing this. You know, it all boils down to money, usually.”

She suggested that some money be aimed toward funding more residencies for medical students in Oklahoma, helping to address the lack of providers in the state.

“Sixty percent of the counties here in Oklahoma do not have a practicing OB-GYN,” Gowin said. “So we really aim to not only train a workforce, but to train a workforce that wants to go into practice in tribal, rural or medically underserved areas because we know that geographically we need that.”

With a lack of OB-GYN providers, the responsibility of women’s health care often falls to primary care providers and family doctors. Gowin said that the University of Oklahoma trains residents to provide these kinds of services so their health care practices are able to care for whole communities.

Legislators attempt to tackle problem

This past session, legislators passed two laws that attempt to address the issue. Both were approved by the governor.

Senate Bill 1739 removes requirements for birthing centers to be licensed. Instead they would need to be accredited by the Commission for the Accreditation of Birth Centers. House Bill 2152 requires maternal deaths to be reported within 72 hours of birth and investigated .

Chad Smith, chair of the Oklahoma Maternal Mortality Review Committee, said that reviewing maternal deaths will be beneficial in understanding what went wrong. Reviewing the deaths is one of the responsibilities of the review committee he chairs.

“I definitely think the quicker we can review maternal death and learn from it, the better. We are a few years behind in the Oklahoma maternal mortality review committee, but we’re catching up really fast,” Smith said.

But he said that funding is what would make a difference.

“There’s been some funding, but really I would say we would benefit from more specific funding aimed and targeted around maternal health in the state of Oklahoma,” Smith said.

He said that there are still positive things going on in the state when it comes to women’s health care.

“It’s not for lack of good care in the state of Oklahoma,” Smith said. “It’s more of a lack of enough good care, and I would say all that contributes to some of the challenges that we see.”

Gowin emphasized the importance of focusing research and funding on women’s health. She said high infant and maternal mortality rates say something larger about the health of the nation.

“If you look at the history of medicine in general, the female body has always almost been seen as the inverse of the male body,” Gowin said. “So, I think we owe it to our population that we’re responsible for caring for to ensure that research and data is telling the full story of health.”

SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX

DONATE: SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST

The post Women’s health care in Oklahoma ranked one of the worst in the nation appeared first on Oklahoma Voice .