Baltimore, MD – Maryland hospitals made a big change this year in the way that early elective deliveries are handled in maternity wards.
According to the Baltimore Business Journal, the state has become the first one nationwide to reduce early elective deliveries to 5% in every one of its hospitals, and it did so in just six months.
This percentage is significant because it’s estimated that around 10-20% of all deliveries in the U.S. are performed before the full gestational period of 39 weeks has passed. Early deliveries often increase the risk of complications for both the mothers and their new babies — and it also costs hospitals and new parents a fortune, too.
The March of Dimes has reported that the average hospital stay for a baby born after 39 to 41 weeks of gestation costs $29,771. For babies born after 37 to 38 weeks of gestation, this cost of a hospital stay is more than $37,000.
In many cases, hospitals induce labor because mothers consider convenience before anything else.
As the Baltimore Business Journal noted, there are several legitimate reasons why 10% of deliveries before 39 weeks are by choice, and it’s not always the parents who want to induce labor. In many cases, the doctor’s availability is severely limited, which really isn’t a surprise considering that only 29% of primary care doctors offer any after-hours coverage.
Or, one patient safety expert explained, a father might be deployed to serve in the Middle East just a week before his baby is due and he wishes to see the baby before leaving.
But now that Maryland hospitals have reduced early elective deliveries, they’re focusing on reducing the number of C-sections performed, since these procedures increase the risk of complications as well. According to Healthline, the U.S. cesarean delivery rate is about 30 percent.
Ironically, a recent publication in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that U.S. hospitals are unique in this way.
Previously, the World Health Organization recommended that if 10 percent of all births were performed by cesarean delivery, both the mothers and the babies would have a better chance at survival. At a 10 percent cesarean rate, the mortality rate equals about 180 deaths per 100,000 births.
New research shows that the global average of cesarean births is around 19.4 percent, which is almost twice the recommended rate of WHO but has actually produced incredible results. With a 19 percent cesarean delivery rate, the mortality rate is fewer than 100 deaths for every 100,000 births.
In other words, medical professionals are encouraging hospitals to be more receptive toward C-sections — but they’re urging American mothers to think twice about this delivery option.
Maryland hospitals have made many strides in this past year, but it’s clear that they have plenty of work ahead of them for 2016.