Hoehn-Velasco L, Jolles DR, Plemmons A, Silverio-Murillo A. Health outcomes and provider choice under full practice authority for certified nurse-midwives.
J Health Econ 2023;
92:102817. [PMID:
37778146 DOI:
10.1016/j.jhealeco.2023.102817]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2021] [Revised: 05/15/2023] [Accepted: 09/08/2023] [Indexed: 10/03/2023]
Abstract
Full practice authority grants non-physician providers the ability to manage patient care without physician oversight or direct collaboration. In this study, we consider whether full practice authority for certified nurse-midwives (CNMs/CMs) leads to changes in health outcomes or CNM/CM use. Using U.S. birth certificate and death certificate records over 2008-2019, we show that CNM/CM full practice authority led to little change in obstetric outcomes, maternal mortality, or neonatal mortality. Instead, full practice authority increases (reported) CNM/CM-attended deliveries by one percentage point while decreasing (reported) physician-attended births. We then explore the mechanisms behind the increase in CNM/CM-attended deliveries, demonstrating that the rise in CNM/CM-attended deliveries represents higher use of existing CNM/CMs and is not fully explainable by improved reporting of CNM/CM deliveries or changes in CNM/CM labor supply.
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