Harrington lowest in costly C-sections
Courtesy
A mother holds her newborn baby at Harrington Memorial Hospital's Family Birthing Center in Southbridge. Harrington has the lowest C-section rate of all Massachusetts hospitals, according to The Leapfrog Group.
Southbridge-based Harrington HealthCare has the lowest primary cesarean-section rate of all hospitals in Massachusetts, according to The Leapfrog Group.
Leapfrog, a hospital industry watchdog that provides analyses on hospital quality and cost, reported a C-section rate of 14.3 percent for Harrington, which delivers babies at its Southbridge campus. That’s well below the target rate of 23.9 percent that Leapfrog set with guidance from a panel of maternity experts. Harrington’s rate is also well below the state’s average rate of 26.2 percent, putting Massachusetts in the 19th spot out of 33 states ranked in the Leapfrog report.
“We carefully manage each patient to ensure that babies are delivered in the safest and least complicated manner,” said Dr. Mark Simonelli, chief of Harrington’s obstetrics department. “Leapfrog’s report is a great validation of what for us is business as usual.”
According to Leapfrog, C-section rates have been steadily climbing over the past 40 years, and experts agree this rise isn’t safe or cost effective. According to The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, cesarean birth is too common in the United States and has increased greatly since it was first measured in 1960.
Leapfrog cited a study by Truven Health Analytics that found average costs across all payers associated with C-sections amount to 50 percent more than average payments with vaginal births. Meanwhile, health risks for new mothers and babies increase when C-sections are performed. According to Leapfrog, they include infection or blood clots, longer recoveries for mothers and difficulty with future pregnancies. C-sections can also cause problems for babies, like breathing difficulties that need treatment in a newborn intensive care unit. In the long-term, research shows that C-sections can cause chronic pelvic pain in some women, and babies born by C-section are at increased risk of developing chronic childhood diseases like asthma and diabetes.
| Central Mass. C-section rates ranked from highest | |
| MetroWest Medical Center, Framingham | 27.4% |
| Saint Vincent Hospital, Worcester | 27.4% |
| Milford Regional Medical Center | 21.5% |
| UMass Memorial Medical Center, Worcester | 21.5% |
| Heywood Hospital | 19.4% |
According to a statement from Leapfrog, less than half (39.1 percent) of U.S. hospitals met Leapfrog’s target rate. Small, rural hospitals fared better than urban hospitals, with close to 50 percent of rural hospitals that reported data achieving the Leapfrog target. Meanwhile, just shy of 37 percent of urban hospitals did.
In Massachusetts, Harrington was trailed by Fairhaven Hospital in Great Barrington, which had a primary C-section rate of 15.2 percent, and Cambridge Health Alliance, with a rate of 18.5 percent.
Image source: Freedigitalphotos.net
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments