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Show Figure 10 | 20 18 " 16 - 14 - 12 - 10 - 8 - 6- 4" 2- 0 84 Percent of Mothers Receiving Fewer Than Six Prenatal Visits: Utah Medicaid Births, 1985-89 Salt Lake County Weber County Balance of State 85 86 87 Year 88 89 90 Given these findings, as well as the greater proportion of teens giving birth in Weber County, it was anticipated that the birth data would show Weber County mothers receiving inadequate prenatal care. In fact, Weber County has not lagged behind the rest of the state in achieving better rates of early entry into prenatal care. At the same time, however, the birth/Medicaid data examined here show an unusually high proportion of women receiving less than six prenatal visits, indicating that the proportion of Medicaid mothers receiving inadequate care increased throughout the period from 1985 to 1989. The implications of this study are twofold. First, from 1985 to 1989, fewer Weber County women than might be expected took advantage of Medicaid's expanded birth/prenatal care benefits. Second, many women at risk for poor birth outcomes in Weber County were initiating prenatal care, but failing to continue in care. The proportion of cases with few prenatal visits may be an isolated problem, or it could be indicative of other inadequacies in the extent and content of prenatal care received by low income women in Weber County. Recommendations A joint review of the findings of this analysis by staff of the Weber-Morgan District Health Department and the Utah Department of Health led to the following recommendations: Staff of the Weber-Morgan Health Department should increase efforts to identify service gaps between those low income prenatal clients being served in public health clinics, and those women with adequate resources who can obtain high quality prenatal care in the private sector. The Weber-Morgan prenatal clinic should expand its capacity to provide prenatal care coordination to more clients, and to monitor high-risk clients throughout pregnancy. Services important to young, low income clients should be improved in Weber County. These include psychosocial support and counseling, health education, nutrition education, and dental screening. Utah's Health: An Annual Review 1993 133 |
