Chicago birth center closing temporarily due to staffing, pay challenges
Chicago birth center closing temporarily due to staffing, pay challenges
A Chicago birth center is closing abruptly — at least for the summer — leaving patients scrambling to make new plans.
CHICAGO - A Chicago birth center is closing abruptly — at least for the summer — leaving patients scrambling to make new plans.
What we know:
The Birth Center of Chicago, located in the North Center neighborhood, has told clients it will stop delivering babies at the end of June and will end prenatal care in early July.
"We've been telling our current clients that the last day that we'll be able to have birth inside the center is June 30th," said Ariel Swift.
The closure stems from staffing shortages following the recent departure of a midwife. Swift said low pay is a key reason it's difficult to retain midwives.
"Midwives are not paid at the same rate that traditional providers in a hospital are paid and especially birth centers are not paid at the same rates as folks who are giving birth inside of a hospital space," Swift said. "It's very reasonable to us that our midwives are trying to find a work environment that allows them to also take care of their own families."
Any patients due in July are being redirected to the Birth Center’s Burr Ridge location or to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center.
Swift said the North Center location hopes to resume services between September and late October, depending on how long it takes for a new staff member’s state license to be processed — a timeline that can take eight to 12 weeks.
While progress has been made — including a state bill passed last year that increased Medicaid reimbursement rates for birth centers from 75% to 80% of hospital rates — Swift said midwife pay still lags behind.
"Birth centers are usually paid about 17 cents on the dollar as compared to a traditional OBGYN. So facilities like ours, which is small – we have a small staff – it's very hard for us to be competitive, especially after coming through COVID and knowing just how the medical landscape has changed," said Swift.
The Chicago South Side Birth Center is raising funds to open a birth center in South Shore. They recently received $3.3 million from the City of Chicago to support their on-going capital fundraising efforts.
Swift hopes policymakers continue to support birth centers across Illinois.
"The birth centers really are trying to provide families opportunity and options for a birth and a parenting experience that can ultimately impact the way that they move through their life after that experience with a lot of respect and a lot of care and we really hope that people know that it's an option and if it's something that they want to explore, then they should look into exploring it because people deserve to be respected in birth," said Swift.
Correction:
An earlier version of this story included a misquote from Ariel Swift. The quote incorrectly stated, "Midwives are usually paid about 17 cents on the dollar as compared to a traditional OBGYN."
Swift has clarified that she meant to say "birth centers," not "midwives." The corrected quote reads: "Birth centers are usually paid about 17 cents on the dollar as compared to a traditional OBGYN."