Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Teams Up with Community Memorial Hospital to Improve Rural Access to Obstetrics

Eagan, Minn. (December 15, 2021) — Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (Blue Cross) today announced that it has funded investments in technology and practice support resources for Community Memorial Hospital (CMH) in Cloquet, Minnesota, allowing new training capabilities to optimize labor and delivery care for patients throughout the state.

The Operative Experience Labor and Delivery Suite, which was recently installed at CMH, provides a life-like simulation for all types of obstetric care, from routine procedures to emergency interventions. The first to be implemented in Minnesota, this obstetrics simulator will be used to provide additional training opportunities for rural providers at CMH and other hospitals across the state, beginning in 2022.

Because labor and delivery skills require constant repetition, many rural hospitals with only a small number of births each year must look for other opportunities to keep skills and knowledge sharp and up-to-date. Too often, this challenge for rural hospitals leads to obstetric department closures and longer travel times for patients.

According to research from the University of Minnesota, expectant mothers living in rural areas are nine percent more likely to die or experience life-threatening complications during childbirth, compared to those living in an urban area. This unfortunate reality is due in part to the fact that more than half of rural counties across the country have no hospitals that provide routine labor and delivery services, which means patients must travel much further to receive this necessary care.

CMH is a critical access hospital – a designation from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for hospitals in rural areas which serve patients who would otherwise need to travel a long distance for emergency care. Located about 25 miles southwest of Duluth, CMH serves a large geographical area, including the Fond du Lac Reservation, which has its tribal headquarters in Cloquet.

“For a critical access hospital like ours, it’s important that our physicians, nurses and support staff are trained appropriately for all types of labor and delivery care – from vaginal deliveries and c-sections to emergency hysterectomies,” said Rick Breuer, chief executive officer at CMH. “We know there are disparities in health outcomes in rural areas and for minority populations, and we hope these training tools can aid us in efforts to eliminate those disparities as well.”

In addition to providing training for its own health care professionals, CMH will make the obstetrics simulator available to other rural providers across the state who are facing similar challenges.

“Long-distance travel is commonly cited as one of the biggest barriers to health care for our members,” said Karen Amezcua, senior director of provider partnerships at Blue Cross. “As we continuously work to ensure we are providing access to the full continuum of care across our network, it’s crucial that rural area hospitals maintain a high level of skill and confidence in obstetrics. Blue Cross anticipates that our investment in this state-of-the-art technology will improve the sustainability of high-quality care for expectant mothers by eliminating barriers that lead to worse health outcomes.”

To learn more about how Blue Cross is working to ensure equitable access to high-quality care for all of our members, please visit https://www.bluecrossmn.com/about-us/corporate-social-responsibility/health-equity.