Medical Center Hospital Five-Star Rated for Maternity Care by HealthGrades
Medical Center Hospital, Odessa, TX, has received a Five-Star Rating from HealthGrades, the nation’s leading independent healthcare ratings organization.
Wide gaps in quality outcomes for maternity care persist, according to a new study released today by HealthGrades. The Sixth Annual HealthGrades Women’s Health in American Hospitals study analyzes patient outcomes for maternity care and inhospital treatment of 16 other procedures/diagnoses concerning women’s health.
Study findings include the following:
• The difference in quality of care between maternity programs is substantial for both vaginal and C-section deliveries: the best-performing hospitals had 52% fewer maternal complications among women who had vaginal births compared to poor-performing hospitals and 76% fewer complications among women who had C-sections. Patient-choice C-sections had the largest difference at 84% between best- and poor-performing hospitals.
• If all hospitals, among the 19 states studied, performed at the level of the best-performing hospitals from 2005 through 2007, 182,129 women may have avoided developing one or more inhospital major obstetrics complications.
• Best-performing hospitals had a 56% lower weight-stratified neonatal mortality compared to poor-performing hospitals.
• C-section rates average approximately 32% among the 19 states studied.
“Choosing the hospital where you will have your baby is a major decision in a woman’s life,” said Dr. Rick May, senior physician consultant with HealthGrades and a study co-author. “This study highlights the differences in quality between hospitals and gives women information to make an informed choice about where they will have their baby.”
In the study, HealthGrades analyzed approximately 13 million hospital delivery and neonate records from 2005 through 2007 in more than 1,500 hospitals in 19 all-payer states for this study and identified 218 hospitals as being five-star rated in maternity care.
The full study can be found at www.healthgrades.com.
MCH Maternity Services
When you are expecting a baby, you and your family are looking forward to one of life's most special moments. The Maternity staff at Medical Center Hospital (MCH) wants to be part of this important event in your life. Our program is built on the belief that each family is unique in its needs and background. We have developed a progressive program of family centered maternity care based on the philosophy that families have babies, not just mothers. We encourage families to be together through all aspects of the birth process from admission to discharge.
At MCH, you are in control, and you always have a choice - in the method of delivery, the use of anesthesia and the people with you during your delivery.
Labor, Delivery & Recovery rooms are provided for mothers who are full term and healthy. Babies delivered in these rooms are assessed at the mother's bedside. Within two hours after birth, the healthy mother and baby are transferred together to our postpartum unit. There, they receive care from one of our couplet care nurses trained in the care of both mothers and babies.
Should the need arise, Medical Center Hospital is also equipped with a Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Our specially trained staff of neonatologists, nurse practitioners, registered nurses and respiratory therapists are prepared to respond to virtually any neonatal emergency.
