Missouri will receive $879,000 in federal rural health funding to begin building what the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services calls the state's first certified nurse-midwife training program, with clinical rotations in rural communities. CMS announced the Missouri award on Oct. 13 as part of more than $2.3 million for the state, which also includes $1.46 million to expand a program that shares childcare costs for rural health care workers.
The announcement arrives as another rural Missouri hospital stops delivering babies. For expecting parents outside the state's metro areas, the gap between the new funding and the closures is practical: a training program can take years to graduate its first midwives, while a closed birthing unit changes a family's delivery plan right away.
