PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Kose, Esra
AU  - O’Keefe, Siobhan
AU  - Rosales-Rueda, Maria
TI  - Does the Delivery of Primary Health Care Improve Birth Outcomes?
AID  - 10.3368/jhr.0623-12952R1
DP  - 2024 Aug 06
TA  - Journal of Human Resources
PG  - 0623-12952R1
4099  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2024/08/01/jhr.0623-12952R1.short
4100  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2024/08/01/jhr.0623-12952R1.full
AB  - Community Health Centers (CHCs) deliver primary care to underserved populations by locating sliding-scale clinics in disadvantaged areas. We investigate how this policy affected infant health using the rollout of CHCs and a flexible event study framework with Vital Statistics natality data. We find that maternal access to CHCs improves infant health outcomes within seven years after their introduction. Treatment-on-the-treated estimates show a 25- to 42-gram increase in birth weight and a 9% to 16% reduction in the likelihood of low birth weight. These improvements can be explained by increased access to early prenatal care and reductions in maternal smoking.