Newsweek Ranks Mercy Jefferson Among America’s Best Maternity Hospitals in 2026

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Newsweek Ranks Mercy Jefferson Among America’s Best Maternity Hospitals in 2026

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Joe Poelker

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It’s official: Nobody does maternity care better than Mercy.

Newsweek’s just released annual list of America’s Best Maternity Hospitals includes Mercy Hospital Jefferson and five other Mercy hospitals. Mercy has more birthplaces on the list than any other health care system in the states it serves.

“Our team is focused on providing safe, quality care in a warm, welcoming environment to provide the best labor and delivery experience possible,” said Dr. Jacob Peyton, medical director of Mercy Birthplace – Jefferson and chief of Mercy Hospital Jefferson medical staff. “Our community can rely on us to provide the birth experience they want right here in Jefferson County.”

Maternity Care Data

Newsweek used three data points to compile its list of top maternity hospitals this year: hospital quality metrics, patient experience and reputation score. The data is pulled from public sources and recommendations from leading health care professionals in maternity care, including neonatal and perinatal physicians, nurses and midwives.

After crunching the numbers, four Mercy hospitals in Missouri made the list (Mercy Jefferson, Mercy St. Louis, Mercy Southeast and Mercy Springfield) along with the Mercy birthplaces at Mercy Northwest Arkansas and Mercy Oklahoma City.

Maternity Care with Mercy Jefferson

Mercy Jefferson offers personalized, family-centered care. In addition to delivering healthy babies, Mercy continues to offer:

Private labor and delivery rooms, as well as mother-baby bonding rooms.
Delivery and comfort options, including epidural anesthesia with some offering nitrous oxide.
Breastfeeding and lactation support, including breastfeeding classes.
Level 2 neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) designed to care for babies facing challenges.
Downloadable guides focused on pregnancy, baby checklists, birth plans, parenting education and more.

Visit the Birthplace page on mercy.net to find a tour of a Mercy birthplace.

Mercy, one of the 15 largest U.S. health systems and named the top large system in the U.S. for excellent patient experience by NRC Health, serves millions annually with nationally recognized care and one of the nation’s largest and highest performing Accountable Care Organizations in quality and cost. Mercy is a highly integrated, multi-state health care system including 55 acute care and specialty (heart, children’s, orthopedic and rehab) hospitals, convenient and urgent care locations, imaging centers and pharmacies. Mercy has over 1,000 physician practice locations and outpatient facilities, more than 5,000 physicians and advanced practitioners and more than 50,000 caregivers serving patients and families across Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. Mercy also has clinics, outpatient services and outreach ministries in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. In fiscal year 2025 alone, Mercy provided more than half a billion dollars of free care and other community benefits, including traditional charity care and unreimbursed Medicaid.