ST. LOUIS - Marking its second full year on Labor Day, the Mercy Birthing Center is earning honors from the nurse midwife community. Of the 285 midwifery practices reviewed by the American College of Nurse Midwives Benchmarking Project, Mercy Birthing Center was among the top tier achieving the two highest designations, Triple Aim and Four Core Perinatal Measures.
“This reflects first and foremost on our moms, their partners and their support teams - the ones managing their pregnancies and labors, investing hours in childbirth preparation and staying healthy,” said Elizabeth Cook, CNM, director of Mercy Birthing Center. “The midwives, nurses, doulas and others at Mercy Birthing Center work closely with our patients to make sure their birthing goals are achieved.”
“Triple Aim” Best Practice recognizes practices that meet the Institute for Healthcare Improvement Triple Aim of improving patient experience, reducing cost of care and improving the health of the population. For midwifery practices, it was demonstrated by high breastfeeding rates, low pre-term birth and c-section rates, and reporting fiscal variables.
The “Four Core” Best Practices designation was designed to acknowledge those achieving nationally established benchmarks for physiologic birth in conjunction with the National Quality Forum and the Joint Commission. The core measures include induction of labor less than 10 percent, primary c-section birth rate less than 15 percent, episiotomy less than 2 percent and exclusive breastfeeding in the first 48 hours of more than 75 percent.
In addition, Mercy Birthing Center was granted individual Best Practice awards for preterm birth rates, induction rates and short postpartum stays compared with other midwifery practices of similar size.
Since opening, Mercy Birthing Center has welcomed 362 babies.
