Ochsner Health Receives National ‘Birthing-Friendly’ Designation

Newswise — NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – Ochsner Health has received the “Birthing-Friendly” designation from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), a testament to the health system’s commitment to providing clinical practices that promote improvement in birth outcomes.

"Birthing-Friendly" is the first-ever CMS designation to describe high-quality maternity care. To earn the designation, hospitals and health systems must prove that they have participated in a statewide or national perinatal quality improvement collaborative program and have implemented evidence-based quality interventions in hospital settings to improve maternal health.

The CMS designation comes months after the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) and the Louisiana Perinatal Quality Collaborative (LaPQC) recognized ten Ochsner Health hospitals that have achieved 2023 Birth Ready Designation for committing to practices that promote safe, equitable, and dignified births for mothers in Louisiana. Birth Ready Designation from the LaPQC celebrates improved and equitable perinatal health outcomes. With two tiers of achievement – Louisiana Birth Ready and Louisiana Birth Ready+ – the state designation recognizes facilities’ consistent, thoughtful healthcare improvement work to create a system of sustained evidence-based change.

“At Ochsner Health, we want to ensure every woman who chooses our facilities for their birth has access to a safe, equitable, and dignified experience,” said Dr. Veronica Gillispie-Bell, medical director of the LaPQC, who also serves as site lead of Women’s Services of Ochsner Health-Kenner. “The requirements to reach our state designations are stringent, and we are grateful for the additional CMS designation of our system being Birthing-Friendly.”

To understand which hospital systems are “Birthing-Friendly,” the public can use a national Care Compare tool online to find a hospital or health system with the designation in their area. The effort is being implemented as part of the White House Blueprint for Addressing the Maternal Health Crisis and is part of Vice President Kamala Harris’ nationwide call to action to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity.

“The ‘Birthing-Friendly’ designation is another important step to increase and further ensure access to high-quality maternity care,” said Vice President Kamala Harris. “America’s maternal mortality rates are the highest in the developed world, and in response, President Biden and I have made it a key priority to address this crisis by directing government agencies to come up with deliberate and actionable plans. We will always remain committed to supporting the health and well-being of all women, their families, and communities across the nation.”

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About Ochsner Health

Ochsner Health is an integrated healthcare system with a mission to Serve, Heal, Lead, Educate and Innovate. Celebrating more than 80 years of service, it leads nationally in cancer care, cardiology, neurosciences, liver and kidney transplants and pediatrics, among other areas. Ochsner is consistently named both the top hospital and top children’s hospital in Louisiana by U.S. News & World Report. The not-for-profit organization is inspiring healthier lives and stronger communities through its Healthy State initiative, a bold and collaborative plan to realize a healthier Louisiana. Its focus is on preventing diseases and providing patient-centered care that is accessible, affordable, convenient and effective. Ochsner Health pioneers new treatments, deploys emerging technologies and performs groundbreaking research, including 4,000 patients enrolled in 685 clinical studies in 2022. It has more than 37,000 employees and over 4,700 employed and affiliated physicians in over 90 medical specialties and subspecialties. It operates 46 hospitals and more than 370 health and urgent care centers across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Gulf South; and its cutting-edge Connected Health digital medicine program is caring for patients beyond its walls. In 2022, Ochsner Health treated more than 1.4 million people from every state and 62 countries. As Louisiana’s top healthcare educator of physicians, Ochsner Health and its partners educate thousands of healthcare professionals annually. To learn more, visit https://www.ochsner.org/.