The Sixth Annual HealthGrades Women's Health in American Hospitals study found that the best-performing hospitals such as Sutter Roseville Medical Center had 52 percent fewer maternal complications among women who had vaginal births compared to poor-performing hospitals and 76 percent fewer complications among women who had C-sections. Patient-choice C-sections had the largest difference at 84 percent between best- and poor-performing hospitals.

"The birth of a baby is one of the most significant events in a person’s life, and we are proud of the commitment we have at Sutter Roseville Medical Center to provide the best possible birthing experience for every mother, father and baby," said Pat Brady, CEO of Sutter Roseville. "In the past couple of years, we have expanded our birthing and newborn floors with larger private rooms, added a neonatal intensive care unit with specialized care for those babies who need it, and added excellent OB-GYNs and registered nurses to the existing superb staff to ensure that commitment continues this year and beyond."

The HealthGrades study findings include the following:

• 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 in-hospital major obstetrics complications.
• Best-performing hospitals had a 56 percent lower weight-stratified neonatal mortality compared to poor-performing hospitals.
• Quality inconsistencies are seen when comparing states; those with the lowest complication rates have almost half the complications compared with states that had the highest complication rates.

"For many women, having a baby is their first experience with hospitalization, and as this study shows, it really matters which hospital is chosen," said Dr. Rick May, a senior physician consultant with HealthGrades and a study co-author. "But now women have a way of identifying hospitals with outstanding track records in terms of the outcomes of other new mothers. That's a powerful tool for all women as they plan for their birth."

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 HealthGrades study can be found at www.healthgrades.com.

For more information on the Family Birth Center at Sutter Roseville Medical Center, and for profiles of the OB/GYNs, go to sutterroseville.org/services/familybirth.html.

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