Marin General Hospital Earns C-Section Honor Roll Recognition
Awarded for Achieving Low Cesarean Section Delivery Rate
GREENBRAE, CA – Marin General Hospital earned a Smart Care California Award and was named to the California Health and Human Services Agency’s (CHHS) Hospital C-Section Honor Roll for the second year in a row for its achievement in low cesarean section delivery rates. The Honor Roll represents 111 California birthing hospitals that achieved low C-Section delivery rates. The Healthy People 2020 target is 23.9 percent or fewer cesarean deliveries for first-time mothers with a term pregnancy where the baby is head-first (otherwise known as Nulliparous, Term, Singleton, Vertex or (NTSV). A look at the list of honorees finds that many hospitals are sustaining efforts to reduce the low-risk, first birth C-section rates.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services adopted the Healthy People 2020 target of reducing nationwide C-section rates for NTSV first-births to 23.9 percent in response to a rapid rise in unnecessary C-sections across the country. According to the CHHS, there has been progress in reducing the state’s low-risk first birth C-Section rate, especially after two decades of annual increases. The hospitals that made the Smart Care C-section Honor Roll account for 45 percent of the 242 hospitals that offers maternity services in California.
Research has shown that a woman’s chance of having a C-section largely depends on where she delivers and the practice pattern of her physician and clinical team. Even for low-risk, first-birth pregnancies, huge variations exist in hospital C-section rates. Unnecessary C-sections can pose serious risks to mothers—higher rates of hemorrhage, transfusions, infection and blood clots—and babies—higher rates of infection, respiratory complications and neonatal intensive care unit stays.
“Earning this recognition is truly a team effort,” said Hector Streeter, Medical Director, OB Hospitalist Program at Marin General Hospital.
“Our multidisciplinary staff is dedicated to sustaining a low C-section rate and providing a safe birth experience for mothers and their babies. Beginning with our childbirth preparation classes through a woman’s stay in Labor & Delivery,” said Anne Lupus, Director, Women, Infants, and Children’s Services at Marin General Hospital.
For additional information about Marin General Hospital’s birthing services visit our birth center page.
About Smart Care California
Smart Care California is a public-private partnership working to promote safe, affordable health care in California. The group currently focuses on three issues: C-sections, opioids and low back pain. Collectively, Smart Care California participants purchase or manage care for more than 16 million Californians—or 40 percent of the state. Smart Care California is co-chaired by the state’s leading health care purchasers: DHCS, which administers MediCal; Covered California, the state’s health insurance marketplace; and CalPERS, which manages pension and health benefits for California’s public employees, retirees, and their families. IHA convenes and coordinates the partnership with funding from the California Health Care Foundation. Learn more about Smart Care California.
About Marin General Hospital
Marin General Hospital has been meeting the community’s healthcare needs since 1952. Many Marin County residents choose to live here because they appreciate the healthy lifestyle and transformative natural environment. In keeping with the values and needs of the community, Marin General Hospital is dedicated to treating the whole patient, mind, body and spirit. Their mission is to provide the people of Marin with the healing care they want and deserve. Marin General Hospital offers advanced medical expertise, technology, and treatments in an exceptionally healing environment. It also gives patients the opportunity to complement their medical treatment with integrative therapies at our Center for Integrative Health & Wellness. Together, Marin General Hospital care teams deliver award-winning services that are recognized by patients and their families, as well as by independent organizations who rank the hospital among the best. For more information, please visit our about us page.
