June 4, 2026
New Data Resource: County-Level Hospital Based Obstetric Care Status from 2010-2024
The University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center developed a publicly available data resource that tracks hospital-based obstetric care availability across U.S. counties from 2010-2024.
The project was designed to create and annually update a national database identifying county-level obstetric service availability and obstetric unit closures to support analysis of trends in rural maternity care access over time.
As of 2023, 60 percent of rural counties lacked hospital-based services according to a recent University of Minnesota research brief. The dataset includes county FIPS codes, state identifiers, and annual indicators showing whether each U.S. county had hospital-based obstetric care during each year from 2010 through 2024 and is available for download in SLS format to support research, policy analysis, and program planning related to rural maternal health and healthcare access.
Click Here to Access Research Publication