Minnesota
Riverlands
New Medical Fellowship Aims to Strengthen Rural Maternity Care
A Minnesota training partnership addresses a challenge familiar to families across our region.
A new partnership between the University of Minnesota Medical School and CentraCare aims to prepare more family physicians to provide advanced maternity care in rural communities. The one-year fellowship will train two doctors each year in obstetric procedures, newborn care and other skills needed to care for patients during pregnancy and childbirth. The first fellows are expected to start in July 2027.
The program responds to a growing challenge: rural hospitals can struggle to staff labor and delivery services, and some have closed their maternity units.
Why it matters in our region: When local maternity care is unavailable, families may need to travel farther for routine appointments and delivery. Training more rural providers is one possible part of the solution, although the new program does not guarantee a local service will reopen.
Source: MPR News, October 25, 2026.