Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids and UnityPoint Health-St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids have been recognized by Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield with a Blue Distinction Centers+ (BDC+) for Maternity Care designation, as part of the Blue Distinction Specialty Care program.
The Blue Distinction Centers for Maternity Care program plays a key role in the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association’s (BCBSA) National Health Equity Strategy aimed at reducing racial health disparities and improving patient outcomes. To align with this strategy, the Blue Distinction Centers for Maternity Care program enhanced its quality and measurement standards to recognize facilities that have taken action to respond to obstetric emergencies, reduce racial disparities and improve maternal health outcomes.
Facilities designated under the Blue Distinction Centers for Maternity Care program demonstrate higher quality care compared to non-Blue Distinction Center facilities, with overall average rates of 26% lower episiotomies, 60% fewer elective deliveries and 17% lower cesarean births. BDC+ designated facilities also exhibited an average savings of 21% for maternity care.
The Blue Distinction Centers for Maternity Care program’s selection criteria was devised to close clinical care gaps and reduce inequities that persist throughout the maternal care spectrum. The selection criteria includes components of BCBSA’s Maternal Health Equity Actions that dismantle the cultural, operational and structural barriers that create inequities in maternal care.
Facilities were evaluated on patient outcomes as well as practices implemented to reduce racial disparities and improve maternal health outcomes, such as:
- Using evidence-based best practices to respond effectively to obstetric emergencies
- Offering unconscious bias training
- Participating in the regional Perinatal Quality Collaborative
- Having doula support available on the maternity care team
- Collecting race, ethnicity and language data
- Having a program dedicated to quality improvements in maternal care
- Running drills and simulations to prepare providers to deal with a range of obstetric emergencies
- Demonstrating health outcomes that exceed the selection criteria from our program’s previous evaluation cycle
