POLICY BRIEF
Aimee R. Eden, PhD, MPH; Melina K. Taylor, PhD, MPH; Jessica Taylor Goldstein, MD; Tyler Barreto, MD
Corresponding Author: Aimee R. Eden, PhD, MPH; AHRQ.
Email: aimee.eden@ahrq.hhs.gov
DOI: 10.3122/jabfm.2022.220404R1
Keywords: Family Physicians, Health Services Accessibility, Maternal Health Services, Newborns, Postpartum Period, Pregnancy, Workforce
Dates: Submitted: 12/2/2022; Revised: 01-18-2023; Accepted: 01-20-2023
FINAL PUBLICATION: |HTML| |PDF|
The impact of the declining proportion of family physicians who attend deliveries on the provision of other perinatal care during pregnancy, postpartum, and neonatal periods is unclear. We found a strong association between stopping attending deliveries and stopping providing prenatal and postpartum care among family physicians, suggesting that policies which support family physicians to maintain a full scope of practice including all or some aspects of perinatal care may help alleviate shortages in the perinatal workforce and fill gaps in access to obstetric care.