The purpose of this study was to examine the types, frequency, and timing of health care use among commercially insured postpartum and nonpostpartum women. The data for this retrospective cohort analysis came from a large national commercial claims database. Women between the ages of 18 and 44 who gave birth in 2016 were included, as were women who were neither pregnant nor postpartum between 2015 and 2017. Researchers looked at hospitalization, preventative visits, problem visits, and emergency department (ED) visits in postpartum women during the early, postpartum, and extended postpartum periods. Nonpostpartum women’s visits were evaluated during time periods of equal duration. In the early postpartum period, over 24 percent of postpartum women had a problem visit, compared to 19.7 percent of nonpostpartum women. An estimated 3% of postpartum women visited the ED before their due date, which was more than double the rate of nonpostpartum women. During the postpartum and prolonged postpartum periods, both issue visits and ED visits among postpartum women remained increased compared to nonpostpartum women. Postpartum women were more likely than nonpostpartum women to obtain preventive care in the early and postpartum periods. Adjusted hospitalization rates in the early, postpartum, and prolonged postpartum periods were greater in postpartum women than in nonpostpartum women.
Postpartum women with commercial insurance utilize more health-care services, especially inpatient treatment, than nonpostpartum women. The differences are greatest in the early postpartum period and last for more than 60 days.
