Modesto medical center bolsters labor and delivery coverage for low-income mothers
Low-income mothers will have more certainty about labor and delivery services at a Modesto hospital, according to a leading Medi-Cal health plan.
Health Plan of San Joaquin announced it’s supporting a new initiative for around-the-clock obstetric care at Doctors Medical Center. The health plan is investing almost $1.8 million to launch a laborist program with First Choice Physician Partners to improve maternal and infant outcomes in the region, a recent news release said.
Health Plan of San Joaquin is a nonprofit Medi-Cal managed-care organization serving 390,000 residents in Stanislaus, San Joaquin and two other counties.
The program arose from a growing need for obstetric coverage at the hospital. Effective April 30, Golden Valley Health Centers made cuts to a program that provided from early pregnancy care in clinics to labor and delivery at DMC. Golden Valley said it needed to shift hospital-based resources to obstetric care at its clinics.
That created the potential of not having 24/7 hospital care for mothers going into labor.
“Our goal is simple: to make sure no woman walks into a hospital in crisis and has to wait for care,” said Jennifer Howard, president and chief executive of First California Physician Partners. “Thanks to the support of Health Plan of San Joaquin, we’re turning that goal into a reality.”
First California Physician Partners is working with the Modesto hospital on a plan for continual funding of the labor and delivery coverage, the news release said. The $1.8 million from HPSJ is for the period from May 2025 through April 2026.
The program is using board-certified OB-GYN physicians and advanced practice providers for 24-hour in-house coverage. The program is expected to serve about 10,000 women in the Medi-Cal program within the San Joaquin Valley.
Earlier this year, it was announced that Central Valley Doctors Health System Physicians would provide coverage at Doctors Medical Center for patients with high-risk pregnancies, which continued a collaboration with Golden Valley Health Centers. The agreement was for OB-GYN hospitalists to ensure coordination of care with the safety-net clinics.
