Availability Of Nurse-midwife Services Under Federal Health Care Programs V. HRD-82-79

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HRD-82-79 1 (1982-06-04)

handle is hein.gao/gaobabdio0001 and id is 1 raw text is:

UNIrL SI-ATEs GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20548

HUMAN RESOURCES
DIVISION

B-207636 JUNE 4,1982

The Honorable Daniel K. Inouye

United States Senate

Dear Senator Inouye:

Subject: Availability of Nurse-Midwife Services Under
Federal Health Care Programs (GAO/HRD-82-79)

At your request, we have reviewed the availability of the
services of nurse-midwives under various Federal health care pro-
grams. As agreed with your office, we performed limited followup
work on a prior GAO report 1/ which discussed several obstacles
that impeded greater use of nurse-midwives. That report contained
a recommendation to the Department of Health and Human Services to
encourage greater use of nurse-midwives by helping to eliminate
barriers to their practice and giving them additional training
opportunities. Through discussions with officials of various
agencies, we also obtained information on the availability and use
of nurse-midwives in the health care programs they administer.

Generally, officials of each agency we contacted supported the
use of nurse-midwives in these programs. However, there is a gen-
eral lack of utilization data, making it difficult to verify the
use or to evaluate Federal efforts encouraging the use of nurse-
midwives. More detailed information is contained in enclosure I.

l/Better Management and More Resources Needed to Strengthen
Federal Efforts to Improve Pregnancy Outcome (HRD-80-24,
Jan. 21, 1980).

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