144 Changes in healthcare utilization for obstetric patients at during the COVID pandemic

Abstract

Healthcare utilization strategies drastically changed in March of 2020 with onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Changes occurred at government, systems, and individual levels with anecdotal reports of decreased hospital admissions and emergency department visits for non-COVID-19. Such observations could be attributable to fear of exposures in a healthcare setting or a decreased incidence of disease due to a paradoxical benefit of quarantine measures. We sought to evaluate changes in inpatient obstetrical care utilization during the Covid-19 pandemic compared to a time-matched period 1 year prior.