How we choose Maternity Program Hospitals
We created the 32BJ Maternity Program to help reduce medical risks faced by expecting moms and their babies. The hospitals and providers we chose meet high-quality standards for maternity care. They’re also focused on improving care and delivering the best maternity experience.
Program Criteria
To be included in the list a hospital had to:
- Have at least 1,800 annual deliveries. Those with less had to show they meet other standards and offer extensive newborn care.
- Provide prenatal care through doctors, midwives and other providers that participate in the 32BJ Health Fund’s network.
- Offer extensive Newborn care, including a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
- Provide postpartum services in the hospital (the care needed after childbirth) at no cost to members. These include services offered by obstetricians, midwives, and lactation consultants after your delivery, without any out-of-pockets costs.
- Promise that there will be no “surprise bills” from doctors who are not in our network and are called in to provide care that you or your covered baby need before you leave the hospital.
- Provide high-quality care to all patients to reduce health disparities across racial/ethnic groups and income levels.
- Report certain results (such as number of births, deliveries with complications, episiotomy rates, babies requiring intensive care) to the 32BJ Health Fund to prove they are meeting quality standards.
- Perform Cesarean sections only as needed to meet the standards set by industry experts. Cesarean sections are also called C-sections. This is when a baby is delivered through a cut through the mother’s abdomen and uterus.
Where the 32BJ Maternity Program standards come from
There are many organizations that measure the quality of maternity care. They rely on the information they collect to identify hospitals, doctors and other caregivers providing the best care. They also share this information to help those who need to improve.
The organizations we relied on and some of the information they focus on include:
- The Leapfrog Group, a national organization that measures the quality of hospital care.
- High-risk deliveries, and early deliveries that weren’t necessary
- C-sections and other surgical services
- Overall maternity care
- American College of Gynecologists, the national organization for doctors who specialize in female reproductive and maternity care.
- Standards for high-quality maternity care
- Treatments for complications
- Screening for depression after birth
- California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative, an organization of doctors, hospitals and others who want to improve maternity care and make sure all patients are treated equally.
- Preventing serious problems during pregnancy
- Unnecessary C-sections and early deliveries
- Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health, this group uses medical information to identify the best maternity care.
- Maternity-related depression, anxiety and drug use
- Complications during pregnancy and birth
- Transition to primary care after birth
- Support after serious events, such as the loss of a child during pregnancy or birth
- United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a federal agency that collects medical information from across the country.
- Overall quality of and standards for maternity and infant care
- Specific issues affecting moms and babies
- New York State Department of Health, collects information each year from hospitals and other providers to monitor residents’ health and overall medical care in our state.
- First-time and repeat C-sections, vaginal births and deliveries by an OB or midwife
- How often moms get anesthesia during labor
- Percentage of infants fed breast milk
