Best Maternity Care Hospitals 2020

Data strongly demonstrates that early elective deliveries—scheduled cesarean sections or medical inductions performed prior to 39 weeks of gestation without medical necessity—carry risks to both babies and mothers. Early elective deliveries can result in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admissions, longer stays and higher costs to both patients and payers.

For this measure, a lower rate is more desirable. Leapfrog's target for all hospitals is 5% or less.

Cesarean sections (C-sections) carry serious risks of infection or blood clots, and many women experience longer recoveries and difficulty with future pregnancies. C-sections can also cause problems for babies, like breathing difficulties that need treatment in a newborn intensive care unit (NICU). To measure a hospital's rate of C-sections, Leapfrog uses one standardized, endorsed measure that reflects the percentage of first-time mothers giving birth to a single baby, at term, in the head-down position. This measure allows for a fair comparison on C-section rates among very different hospitals.

For this measure, a lower rate is more desirable. Leapfrog's target for all hospitals is 23.9% or less.

An episiotomy is an incision made in the perineum (the birth canal) during childbirth. Although episiotomies were once routine in childbirth, medical guidelines today recommend an episiotomy only in a narrow set of cases. Episiotomies have been clearly linked with worse perineal tears, loss of bladder or bowel control, serious infections, and pelvic floor defects.

For this measure, a lower rate is more desirable. Leapfrog's target for all hospitals is 5% or less.

To ensure a safe delivery for mom and baby, hospitals must take some standard precautions for their patients. Leapfrog assesses whether a newborn has been properly screened for a high bilirubin level. If a high level is not caught, the newborn faces a high risk of brain damage and various disabilities.

Leapfrog's target rate is 90% or greater, meaning that at least 90% of babies are screened for jaundice.

Mothers that deliver via C-section are sometimes at risk for a pulmonary embolism, where one or more arteries in the lungs become blocked by a blood clot. Hospitals must take care to reduce this risk using standard prevention protocols.

Leapfrog's target rate is 90% or greater, meaning that techniques to prevent blood clots are used for at least 90% of mothers delivering via C-section.