Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Prenatal Care Utilization at a Public Hospital.

Objective: The aim of the study is to compare rates of prenatal care utilization before and after implementation of a telehealth-supplemented prenatal care model due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Study Design: Using electronic medical record data, we identified two cohorts of pregnant persons that initiated prenatal care prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic following the implementation of telehealth (from March 1, 2019 through August 31, 2019, and from March 1, 2020, through August 31, 2020, respectively) at Grady Memorial Hospital. We used Pearson's Chi-square and two-tailed -tests to compare rates of prenatal care utilization, antenatal screening and immunizations, emergency department and obstetric triage visits, and pregnancy complications for the prepandemic versus pandemic-exposed cohorts.