While maternal outcomes differ significantly based on patient race, they can be improved by obstetric (OB) hospitalist-based care, according to a new report.
In 2022, Ob Hospitalist Group (OBHG) launched a data collection initiative to better understand the role of OB hospitalists in the delivery of high-quality, racially equitable care and outcomes. The data analysis encompassed almost 320,000 obstetrical patient encounters and more than 31,000 OBHG clinician-involved deliveries across 22 states.
The analysis shows that clinical outcomes at hospitals with OB hospitalists significantly outpace national performance measures across all races – demonstrating that OB hospitalist programs elevate community maternal health.
Other key findings:
- Overall, hospitals with OBHG clinicians outperform national averages for elective deliveries, C-sections, lacerations, episiotomies, and patient return to hospital (under 34 weeks).
- The C-section delivery rate of 19.5% is far below the national goal of at/under 23.6%. For Black women, the C-section delivery rate by OBHG clinicians was 18.2%, compared to the 31.2% delivery rate reported by the CDC.
- Rates of episiotomies and lacerations were also significantly lower than national goals. For Black women, the laceration rate with instrument of 5.0% was less than half the national goal of at/under 11.7%; the episiotomy rate of 1.7% for Black women was almost three times lower than the national goal of at/under 5.0%.
“Maternal mortality is a problem long in search of solutions and OB hospitalists are a key ingredient in addressing this national health issue,” said Dr. Mark Simon, Chief Medical Officer, OBHG. “We wanted to release this data quickly because it may aid in improving maternal outcomes and reduce future racial disparities.”
Click here to read the full report
Click here to read the news release about the report
Click here to read story about the report in Contemporary OB/GYN