Data on maternal outcomes are now available on WhyNotTheBest.org, The Commonwealth Fund’s free health care performance benchmarking tool. The data, which show rates of cesarean section deliveries as well as vaginal births after cesareans, demonstrate that there is widespread variation in birth outcomes among hospitals and states. For example, less than 20 percent of deliveries result in cesareans in Utah, while nearly 36 percent do so in Florida. The National Priorities Partnership has set a goal of reducing rates of cesarean delivery among low-risk women to 15 percent or less.
The new maternal outcomes data are based on reports from all payers—Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurers—and come from hospitals in 18 states. WhyNotTheBest.org is a unique resource for exploring these all-payer data across states and regions.
New measures of population health, drawn from the County Health Rankings and Roadmaps data set, also have been added to WhyNotTheBest.org. The new measures assess the percent of adults in each county who report they are in fair or poor health, the number of primary care physicians per 100,000 people, and diabetes and mammography screening rates, among other indicators.
To get started, explore these featured reports:
Cesarean Delivery Rates Vary Widely Across Nation (Hospital Report)
Inpatient Quality Indicators of Maternal Care: California Hospitals (Hospital Report)
Population Health in Texas: County Health Rankings (Region Report)
Prevention Quality Indicators: 18 States (Region Report)