SSM Health of Wisconsin revealed Tuesday that they would be reversing course on a recent decision to end its Midwifery Program, after they were met with widespread backlash from patients and experts alike.
A spokesperson announced in a statement that while the nurse-midwife program, “is not sustainable, SSM Healthy truly values women’s health and remains committed to offering equitable access to care, including midwifery services.”
According to Channel 3000, the decision to end the program would have left four nurse-midwives out of jobs come Dec. 31. Nurse-midwives were notified a day before patients.
The healthcare provider originally had plans to transition patients under care of midwives to OB-GYN providers.
In an email to staff obtained by Channel 3000, SSM Health’s interim Regional President Matt Hanely and Dr. Mark Thompson, president of Medical Groups, wrote, “Despite high patient satisfaction, positive outcomes and substantial investment in the program, we are unable to sustain the program further.”
In another statement to the Wisconsin State Journal on Monday, spokesperson Lisa Adams added, “many women who choose midwifery care choose to deliver their babies with community-based midwives. Because of these trends, we are not seeing the number of births needed to sustain the current model of employing midwives within the SSM Health Women’s and Newborn’s program.”
According to current SSM nurse-midwife Emily Beaman, the Midwifery Program has seen over 300 births since its inception.
The decision was criticized by many, primarily due to the perception that the move prioritizes profit over people and adequate healthcare for expecting mothers.
In response to the decision, Dr. Michelle Drew, a nurse-midwifee, tweeted “So care by an OBGYN at 4x the cost of a midwife between salaries & malpractice, makes more ‘economic sense’ […] Shame on @ssmhealthwi.” Twitter user Jackee Hack added, “I used to work at the competing hospital in Madison as a labor nurse and I couldn’t imagine what it would look like without midwives. This makes me sad.”
Data has shown that midwives play a significant role in contributing to the health of newborns and mothers. According to a research study published in the National Library of Medicine, a division of the National Institutes of Health, “a substantial increase in coverage of midwife-delivered interventions could avert 41% of maternal deaths, 39% of neonatal deaths, and 26% of stillbirths, equating to 2.2 million deaths averted per year by 2035.”
According to SSM Health, the Midwifery Program will continue “until a new, sustainable model is in place.”
