While hospitals have made progress in improving maternal care outcomes in two of three areas, there is more work to be done on reducing the number of cesarean sections, according to The Leapfrog Group's 2020 Maternity Care Report released April 8.
For the report, Leapfrog assessed hospitals on cesarean sections, early elective deliveries and episiotomy rates. Leapfrog used 2020 survey data submitted by more than 2,200 hospitals nationwide for its analysis.
Four takeaways:
1. Episiotomy rates decreased from 6.3 percent in 2019 to 5.2 percent in 2020, nearing Leapfrog's target of 5 percent or less.
2. The average rate of early elective deliveries was 1.6 percent in 2020, with 92 percent of hospitals meeting Leapfrog's standard of 5 percent or less for this metric. When Leapfrog released its first maternity care report in 2010, this rate was 17 percent.
3. A record 51 percent of hospitals met Leapfrog's C-section standard of 23.9 percent or less, up from 42 percent of hospitals in 2019.
4. Hospitals' average C-section rate was 24.5 percent in 2020, down slightly from 25.6 percent in 2019. Despite this progress, Leapfrog said average C-section rates are still too high and vary widely among states and hospitals in each state.
To view the full report, click here.