Last week the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced it will begin displaying the ‘Birthing-Friendly’ designation icon on CMS’s Care Compare online tool and through a new mapping tool. The designation identifies hospitals and health systems that participate in a statewide or national perinatal quality improvement collaborative program and implement evidence-based care to improve maternal health.
“It’s important to center CMS’ work in actions that are results-driven and empower the people we serve. The ‘Birthing-Friendly’ designation is part of our ongoing efforts to improve maternal health in the U.S.,” said CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure. “By highlighting hospitals and health systems demonstrating a strong commitment to maternity care quality, the ‘Birthing-Friendly’ designation is one powerful example of how we are centering health equity in everything we do. As maternal health inequities persist across the nation, the designation offers a tangible marker of the evidence-based practices that hospitals and health systems can pursue to close these gaps and ultimately provide the kind of care all expectant parents deserve.”
Visit Medicare.gov/care-compare to see hospitals with the ‘Birthing-Friendly’ designation.
