EMMETT, Idaho — In June 2023, Valor Health in Emmett closed its labor and delivery unit, leaving Gem County moms without a place to give birth.
Dr. Jonathan Barrus still provides pregnancy care and says the need is growing. Last year, his clinic delivered 57 babies, and by mid-January, he already has 34 births on the 2026 calendar.
WATCH | New federal funding could potentially help address the Gem County labor and delivery gap—
"It was unfortunate... all the family medicine docs in town that do deliveries, or that did deliveries at Valor, were trying to convince them that it was a worthwhile service," Barrus said.
Without a local hospital that can accommodate labor and delivery in Emmett, each of those families needs to pack their bags when the big day comes and head to Boise, Nampa, or Meridian.
"I make the drive probably twice a week on average over the last four months or so," Barrus said.
"I can be there in 45 minutes. Just let me know with enough time to make it," Barrus said, laughing.
Idaho News 6 tested the drive on a Monday evening, and it took 37 minutes to get from Gem Family Medicine's clinic to St. Luke's in Nampa, where many Emmett patients now deliver.
"I've only missed a few deliveries because of that, but it is what it is, having to drive so far to make it over there," Barrus said.
That drive can mean canceling an entire day of clinic appointments, impacting other patients.
"That delivery piece specifically is what we said was unsustainable for us," Brad Turpen said.
Turpen is the CEO of Valor Health. He says the decision came down to staffing and the need for 24/7 specialized coverage, and bringing it back anytime soon just isn't feasible.
"We don't have a goal to bring back labor and delivery, and for all of the reasons why we ended up having to close that service, those complications still exist, those challenges still exist. In fact, some of them are even worse," Turpen said.
The closure was primarily due to nursing staffing challenges rather than reimbursement issues.
"It's not a reimbursement issue primarily for us. It was labor and delivery nursing and all of the infrastructure around it, the, you know, being able to go to the OR and instant notice if you have a C-section needs, so you've got a surgical team, you've got anesthesia, you know, so it's an always-on type of service," Turpen said.
However, Valor Health continues to provide other maternity-related services.
"All of those components of making sure that, you know, young mothers have the education they need, maybe those are nutritional services, just quick care coordination, especially if it's a complicated pregnancy," Turpen said.
With Idaho set to receive nearly $200 million annually in rural health transformation funding, providers hope some of it could go toward maternity solutions.
"I would like to see the hospital open back up their OB services. I think that that would be a great thing for the community, especially with the numbers that we're seeing as well as the growth that we're seeing in the community," Barrus said.
Turpen says Valor Health is exploring community-wide partnerships with the federal funding.
"One of the great things that's happening is we're talking with local providers that are maybe a private practice that doesn't have access to these funds. And looking for ways that we can, as a community, be maybe the recipient of these funds but be more of a coordinator so that it's not just something that maybe benefits our health-specific patients but patients that are seen across the board in the community," Turpen said.
"We've been talking to them about you know, ideas, and it's pretty early, but just looking for ways that, you know, especially with, maternal needs, you know, how can we coordinate and support the kind of prenatal and postnatal care in the community," Turpen said.
