Researchers from University of Alabama Birmingham Report Recent Findings in Insurance (Health Insurance, Race, and Receipt of a Postpartum Visit Among Patients Giving Birth In a Referral Hospital In the Us South): Insurance

2025 MAY 01 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Hospital & Nursing Home Daily -- Research findings on Insurance are discussed in a new report. According to news originating from Birmingham, Alabama, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “The United States faces a maternal mortality crisis with stark and unacceptable disparities. Postpartum care (PPC) is crucial for identifying and managing complications after childbirth.”

Financial supporters for this research include NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), American Heart Association.

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from the University of Alabama Birmingham, “However, access to PPC is inconsistent, especially for marginalized individuals such as Black birthing people and Medicaid beneficiaries. We examined the effect of the intersection of race and insurance type on the patients’ receipt of postpartum care (PPC) in a large referral hospital in the Southeast US. In this cross-sectional retrospective cohort study, we analyzed data from electronic health records for 14,531 people who gave birth from January 2014 to March 2020 in a labor and delivery unit caring for more than 4000 births per year in the Southern US. Variables included race/ethnicity, insurance status, maternal age, number of living children, mode of delivery, and presence of chronic conditions. We produced descriptive statistics and used multivariable log-binomial models to estimate adjusted risk ratios (RR) for receiving PPC, including interaction terms between race and insurance. In a retrospective analysis of electronic health records of 14,531 patients who gave birth in a large health system in the US South, 53.0% of patients received a clinic-based PPC visit. Having private insurance, compared to Medicaid insurance, was associated with a higher likelihood of receiving clinic-based PPC but a lower likelihood of visiting the Maternity Evaluation Unit, a special unit for urgent or emergency care. Type of insurance is associated with receipt of postpartum care. Disparities in PPC are modestly influenced by the interaction between race and insurance type. Private insurance, as compared to Medicaid insurance, increases the likelihood of postpartum care across all racial groups with some differences in this relationship by race/ethnicity. Next steps should include qualitative research that helps us better understand the differences in receipt of PPC by insurance coverage and the interactions between insurance status and race.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Implementation research should also test practical strategies to increase access to postpartum care, particularly for Medicaid-insured and other marginalized individuals.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Health Insurance, Race, and Receipt of a Postpartum Visit Among Patients Giving Birth In a Referral Hospital In the Us South. Social Science & Medicine, 2025;372. Social Science & Medicine can be contacted at: Pergamon-elsevier Science Ltd, The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, England. (Elsevier - www.elsevier.com; Social Science & Medicine - http://www.journals.elsevier.com/social-science-and-medicine/)

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from Jesse Rattan, University of Alabama Birmingham, Heersink Sch Med, Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Birmingham, AL 35294, United States. Additional authors for this research include Christina Blanchard, Rachel Sinkey, T. Robin Bartlett, Meghan Tipre, Monica L. Baskin, Azita Amiri, Justin M. Leach and Janet M. Turan.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.117922. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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