HEALTH & WELLNESS
cutting down on c-sections NEW JERSEY CESAREAN DELIVERY RATES ARE ABOVE NATIONAL AVERAGES WRITTEN BY LINDY WASHBURN
New Jersey hospitals performed worse — not better — in lowering the rate of Cesarean deliveries for newbornsinthe most recent report on the quality of maternity care .
Only nine of 48 hospitals where babies are delivered brought the rate of such surgery down to the national goal level , said the report . That compares with 15 hospitals that had reached the goal set by the federal Healthand Human Services Department ayear earlier .
Some of the busiest hospitals for childbirth — such as Hackensack Meridian Health Hackensack University Medical Center — have C-sectionrates of more than 40 percent , far above the national and state averages .
The state “ can and must do better to reduce C-sectionrates ,” says Linda Schwimmer , president and CEO of the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute . “ Now is the time for hospital leadershiptoprioritize maternal and child health throughout New Jersey .”
No one says the goal should be zero C-sections . Surgical births are sometimes necessary for the healthofthe mother and baby . The government saidhospitals should strive to do no morethan 23.9 percent of birthsvia C-section .
Hospitals separated by less than
NEW JERSEY ’ S C-SECTION RATE HAS REMAINED STUBBORNLY HIGH FOR YEARS .
5miles can provide vastly different childbirthexperiences . For example , Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck has aC-section rate of 16.2 percent , compared with Hackensack ’ s rate of 41.0
percent . “ The hospital where an expectant mother delivers her baby should not be the determining factor of whether or not she has asurgical birth ,” Schwimmersays , notingthe wide gaps among New Jersey hospitals .
More than 100,000 babiesare born eachyearinNew Jersey , and about 40 percent of their deliveriesare covered by Medicaid , the state insurance program for low-income people .
C-sections cost morethan vaginal childbirthand result in longer hospital stays . For themother , the procedure carries ahigher riskofcomplications such as infection or the formation of blood clots . And babies born without being squeezed through thebirth canal have ahigher risk of respiratoryproblems and lack exposure to the mother ’ s bacteria , which can help their developing immune systems .
New Jersey ’ sC-section rate has remained stubbornlyhigh for years .
The state ranked fourth — behind Mississippi , Louisiana and Florida — in 2016 , with an overall rate of 36.1 percent , according to the federal Centers for Disease Control .
New Jersey mothers are also twice as likely as the national average to die in the year after giving birth .
Their deathsmay be related to the unusually highrate of surgical deliveries , experts say . That issue — and the highest-in-the-nation mortality gap between black babies and white babies — are among the health care priorities of Gov . PhilMurphy ’ s administration .
“ This data should be awake-up call that improving maternal healthinNew Jersey requires transparency ” and new ways to make hospitals more supportive to mothers and babies , says JillWodnick , achildbirth educator at Montclair StateUniversity . She led agroup marking New Jersey ’ sfirst Maternal Health Day earlier this year .
Women crave information that allows them “ to understand the quality of maternity care ” and the facilities available at various hospitals , she says . In California , for example , consumers can searchbyZIP code for information about the birth practices and quality metrics at their hospitals .
Use of this information , combined with therightfinancial incentives , could lead “ New Jersey to see vast improvementsinits maternal and infant health outcomes , across all races ,” Schwimmer says . ●
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