When Beauregard Health System, a 49-bed rural hospital in DeRidder, Louisiana, lost two of its three obstetricians, the future of its labor and delivery program hung in the balance. Instead of closing their OB unit—a step many rural hospitals have been forced to take—hospital leadership sought a new path. The team reached out to Ob Hospitalist Group (OBHG) to collaborate on a solution to provide support to their remaining obstetrician and fortify the service line.
What emerged from that conversation was the first Maternal Health Access Solutions (MHAS) program—a flexible, sustainable model for OB coverage that could be customized for smaller hospitals. Beauregard became the pilot site for the now-growing nationwide MHAS program.
“The nearest, next best option for women is an hour and fifteen-minute drive away in any direction from us,” said Traci Thibodeaux, CEO of Beauregard Health System. “The primary goal was to provide our one remaining obstetrician with call support. We were really trying to come up with a model that was as cost-effective as possible and as sustainable as possible.”
A customized, cost-effective model for OB support
With OBHG’s collaboration, the hospital launched a 5-shift-per-week MHAS program to deliver consistent, high-quality OB support in both the hospital and clinic.
The impact was immediate: their OB stayed, their obstetrics program stayed open, and patients in Beauregard Parish continued receiving maternal care close to home.
“We identified a couple of providers that were most appropriate for our market through OBHG’s help and quickly stood up that additional support,” said Thibodeaux. “It kept our provider from feeling like he was trapped in a situation where he had to be on 24/7/365.”
Expanding access in rural communities
Beauregard’s MHAS success wasn’t just a win for one hospital. It launched a new model of OB care now supporting more than 40 rural programs nationwide. The program is designed to help hospitals facing obstetric staffing shortages, provider burnout, and rising pressure to close OB units—especially in underserved communities.
“It kept our program from falling apart,” said Thibodeaux. “And we were able to continue to serve, and serve well, the women in our community who needed obstetrical care.”
To hear more about how Beauregard Health System preserved OB access in their community—and helped launch a model now serving rural hospitals across the country—watch the full video to hear everything Thibodeaux had to say. Her firsthand insights offer a powerful reminder of what’s possible when hospitals and partners work together to put patients first.