Eleven Birthing Centers in Michigan Earn Excellence Award For Maternity Care and Safety

 State experiences a decrease in unnecessary C-section rates

The Economic Alliance for Michigan (EAM), a nonprofit group comprised of Michigan’s largest employers and unions, announced the annual EAM Hospital Maternity Care Awards, recognizing hospitals throughout Michigan that have demonstrated excellence and improvement in maternity care and delivery outcomes. Fourteen hospitals have earned an award for 2024. This marks the seventh year for the awards.

The awards are part of EAM’s Maternity Care Project. Created in 2018, the project goals are to decrease the state’s infant mortality rate, reduce the rate of unnecessary C-sections, and be an educational resource for new and expecting parents residing in Michigan.

The forty-six hospitals with birthing centers that participated in the annual Leapfrog Hospital Survey recorded an overall decrease in unnecessary C-sections by 1.8 percent from the previous year. The Leapfrog Group’s hospital/birthing center standard mark for unnecessary C-sections is 23.6 percent or less of low-risk deliveries. Low-risk is defined as a healthy, first-time mother who carried a single fetus with its head down to 39 weeks gestation. Unnecessary c-sections can increase the risk of hemorrhage, infection, blood clots and transfusions for the mother and increase the risk of respiratory complications, neonatal intensive care stays and infection for newborns.

“When a woman enters the hospital to give birth, it’s the hospital’s culture that determines her likelihood of having an unnecessary procedure,” said Bret Jackson, president and CEO for EAM. “Unnecessary C-sections may lead to complications that become life threatening and costly to the patient. In general, healthcare facilities and professionals need to concentrate on providing high quality care, not revenue.”

For the award, hospitals were evaluated in four areas: cesarean rates (≤ 23.6% of low-risk deliveries), episiotomy rates (≤ 5% of deliveries), elective early delivery rates (≤ 5% of deliveries), and maternity care processes (90% or greater). The data is from the 2023 Leapfrog Hospital Survey performed by The Leapfrog Group, a Washington, D.C. based organization aiming to improve health care quality and safety for consumers and purchasers.

To be awarded the Excellence Award, hospitals need to fully meet the standard in all four areas in the same calendar year. Recipients of the 2024 Maternity Care Excellence Award are:

• Ascension Borgess Hospital in Kalamazoo
• Bronson Battle Creek Hospital
• Corewell Health Big Rapids Hospital
• Corewell Health Lakeland Hospitals – Niles
• Corewell Health Lakeland Hospitals – St. Joseph
• Corewell Health Ludington Hospital
• Corewell Health Pennock Hospital in Hastings
• MyMichigan Medical Center Alma
• MyMichigan Medical Center Alpena
• OSF St. Francis Hospital in Escanaba
• Trinity Health Grand Rapids Hospital

For the Improvement Award, hospitals must have demonstrated rate decreases in cesarean rates, episiotomy, and elective early delivery over a two-year period, and must now fully meet the standard for unnecessary cesarean delivery rates. Recipients of the 2024 Maternity Care Improvement Award is:

• Corewell Health Dearborn Hospital
• Henry Ford Jackson Hospital
• UP Health System – Marquette

The Maternity Care Project also provides details for birthing centers in Michigan, providing parents-to-be invaluable information in making a choice for hospital maternity care. To compare birthing centers and learn more about the project go to www.maternitycareproject.com.