%0 Report
        %A Fischer, Stefanie
%A Royer, Heather
%A White, Corey
        %T Health Care Centralization: The Health Impacts of Obstetric Unit Closures in the US
        %D 2023
        %8 2023 Mar
        %I Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        %C Bonn
        %7 IZA Discussion Paper
        %N 15987
        %U https://www.iza.org/index.php/publications/dp15987
        %X Over the last few decades, health care services in the United States have become more geographically centralized. We study how the loss of hospital-based obstetric units in over 400 counties affect maternal and infant health via a difference-in-differences design. We find that closures lead mothers to experience a significant change in birth procedures such as inductions and C-sections. In contrast to concerns voiced in the public discourse, the effects on a range of maternal and infant health outcomes are negligible or slightly beneficial. While women travel farther to receive care, closures induce women to receive higher quality care.

        %K maternity ward
%K maternal health
%K infant health
%K closure
%K obstetric
%K hospital quality