Three years after a hospital in Paris, Tennessee, stopped offering childbirth services, officials announced plans Tuesday to bring its labor and delivery unit back next year.
The former Henry County Medical Center suspended some of its pregnancy and childbirth-related care in 2023 amid financial struggles. The next year, county leaders agreed to lease the publicly-owned hospital to West Tennessee Healthcare – a move officials at the time said was meant to keep the facility open.
In a release this week, WTH CEO Tina Prescott said community members advocated for the healthcare group to bring labor and delivery services back to the northwest Tennessee area.
“We are committed to WTH Henry County Hospital and to making sure families throughout this area have access to the healthcare services they need. This is an important step forward, and we look forward to continuing to build on the care available right here in Henry County,” Prescott said.
Currently, the closest medical facility where pregnant Henry County residents can give birth is across the Tennessee-Kentucky border at Murray-Calloway County Hospital. But patients on TennCare – Tennessee’s Medicaid program – have to use in-state healthcare providers. That makes the closest option for those patients at the moment WTH Volunteer Hospital in Martin, over 30 miles away. Before the facility closed its OB-GYN unit, TennCare was the primary payer for 70% of the deliveries performed at the former Henry County Medical Center.
WTH officials say the group is working toward resuming labor and delivery services at its Henry County hospital in spring 2027.
According to data from the Center for Healthcare Quality & Payment Reform, a policy center researching access to medical care, only 40% of rural hospitals in Tennessee offer labor and delivery services. Roughly one-third of Tennessee counties are maternity care deserts, according to a report from the March of Dimes.
