Content of Obstetric Care for Rural, Medicaid, and Minority Women. Abstract,Executive Summary and Final Report

摘要

Poverty, rural residence, and racial/ethnic minority status are often associatedwith higher mortality, but the reason for these poorer outcomes remains unclear. One possibility is that pregnant women from these groups receive less than adequate obstetric care than other members of society. We explored that hypothesis in a group of randomly selected low-risk women in Washington State. The pattern of care received and the total amount of resources used were remarkably similar across groups. These data do not support the hypothesis that fewer resources are spent on the obstetric care of low-risk minority or Madicaid women. The most prominent finding of this study is that the care of the low-risk groups of women of interest (i.e., nonwhite, Medicaid, and rural) were very similar to that of the majority counterparts.