Who Is Delivering Babies in Arkansas?

Addressing Arkansas’s maternal health crisis requires having clear information about each step of the birthing journey. This infographic focuses on one component of that journey by providing a comprehensive look at who is delivering babies in Arkansas.

ACHI analyzed birth records and physician licensure records to obtain a profile of delivering providers in the state. The analysis includes privately insured, Medicaid-covered and self-paid deliveries, and it shows how delivering providers in Northwest Arkansas break down by provider type, age, sex, and race and ethnicity.

Key findings:

• Of the 32,439 deliveries that occurred in Arkansas in 2022, 98.7% were performed by physicians.
• The remaining 1.3% of deliveries were performed by lay midwives, certified midwives, or other healthcare professionals. The analysis excludes the small number of deliveries performed by non-healthcare professionals.
• Of the 347 delivering providers in Arkansas in 2022, 88.5% were physicians, 7.2% were lay midwives, 1.7% were certified midwives, and 2.6% were other healthcare professionals.
• Of the 307 physicians who performed deliveries in Arkansas in 2022, 81.8% were OB-GYNs, 12.7% were family medicine physicians, and 5.5% were physicians with other or unknown specialties.
• Of the delivering physicians for whom demographic information was available, 146 were male and 130 were female. However, among physicians under age 50, 102 were female and only 53 were male.
• Of the delivering physicians for whom demographic information was available, 87.7% were White, 5.8% were Black, 4% were Asian, 1.8% were Hispanic, and 0.7% were American Indian/Alaskan Native.

See more information about maternal and infant health in Arkansas on our topic page.