FORT SMITH - Mercy Hospital Fort Smith has added a new service to ensure that pregnant women have access to the care they need.

Mercy Hospital Fort Smith is launching an obstetric hospitalist program that will provide an experienced team of board-certified obstetricians 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

• Providing care in times of emergency prior to the arrival of a patient's physician.
• Supporting the care of high-risk pregnancy patients.
• Delivering babies for patients who don't have an obstetrician.

As part of the program, Mercy Childbirth Center in the Labor & Delivery building on the main hospital campus will have an Obstetric Emergency Department with four rooms dedicated to emergency care at any gestational age. Eight OB hospitalists have been hired.

The program, not intended to replace a woman's regular obstetrician, is offered in partnership with the OB Hospitalist Group, which staffs and manages programs throughout the United States.