Phillips County mothers face 51-minute drive after labor unit closure

Phillips County mothers now face a 51-minute median drive to a delivery facility, up from 6 minutes before Helena Regional Medical Center closed its labor and delivery unit in 2020. The Arkansas Center for Health Improvement tracked the county’s travel time to childbirth care rising eightfold from 2019 to 2024, and the next closest birthing hospital for most mothers is 48 minutes away.

Helena Regional Medical Center had reported at least a $1.3 million loss every year since 2004, and in 2022 it lost $8.57 million on $12.75 million in net patient revenue. The facility later was sold to Progressive Health Group and renamed Progressive Health of Helena, and the new owner said the hospital had been struggling financially for years.

Magnolia Regional Medical Medical Center shut its labor and delivery unit in 2021, and Columbia County mothers saw median travel time to delivery facilities rise from 11 minutes to 45 minutes after that closure. Arkansas Business projected that when another planned reopening occurs, fewer than half of the state’s hospitals, 37 in all, will offer birthing services.

As of November 2025, the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement ranked Arkansas among the states with one of the nation’s highest maternal mortality rates. KFF data showed 3.8 OB-GYNs for every 10,000 women nationwide in 2021 and 2022, and an ACHI update found 59% of rural hospitals did not provide labor and delivery services as of April 2024.

In March of Dimes’ 2022 analysis, nearly half of Arkansas counties were maternity care deserts, and its 2024 report put more than one-third of U.S. counties in that category.