When specialized hospital units shut down en masse in a particular geographic region, it can profoundly impact units that remain operational, according to a new study in Health Affairs. An examination of obestric unit closures in greater Philadelphia not only created chronic stress within the surviving system, but forced them to come up with ad hoc responses. And the quality of care suffered. "Many informants reported that 'we are seeing some people with no prenatal care. We are seeing some people who said they had care elsewhere and when we called elsewhere, wherever that may be, they either could not locate their record or told us that there was no care provided there,'" the study concluded. "Care became more inefficient, which worsened the effects of surges in delivery volume." >> Read the full FierceHealthcare article