CMS “Birthing-Friendly” Designation Now Available On Care Compare

Published Jan 17, 2024

CMS now is displaying its “birthing-friendly” hospital designation on Medicare’s Care Compare website and through a new mapping tool. The designation identifies hospitals and health systems that participate in a statewide or national perinatal quality improvement collaborative program and implement evidence-based care to improve maternal health.

“Birthing-Friendly” is the first-ever CMS designation to describe high-quality maternity care. To earn the designation, hospitals and health systems report their progress on CMS’s Maternal Morbidity Structural Measure to the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR) Program.

The Missouri PQC supports birthing organizations, providers and stakeholders in maternal and infant health. Currently, 49 hospital birthing units have joined quality improvement collaborative efforts with the MO PQC. New opportunities will allow the MO PQC to advance supportive efforts to increase implementation of evidence-based practice, create clinical-community linkages and align with state and regional efforts to improve equitable health outcomes from mothers and infants.

The map shows Birthing-Friendly hospitals and health systems throughout the United States. Users can search by city, state, or zip code to find a hospital or health system with the designation in their area. The map is interactive; users can zoom and select a data point to see address information.