1. 11 Signs of
Maternity Care Transformation
in 2011

2. Efforts to measure and eliminate
elective deliveries before 39 weeks
are sweeping the nation.
Every month in 2011 brought a new study or report of
hospitals implementing programs to reduce or eliminate
the practice. Not only are these efforts having a
measurable, immediate impact on maternal-newborn
health, they are fostering a culture of maternity care quality
within hospitals and health systems - fertile soil for future
improvement efforts.
Learn more at
jointhetransformation.org

3. Maternity care quality is squarely on
the national agenda.
After years of inadequate and poorly coordinated attention
by policy makers and others, maternity care quality has
become a priority in health care reform efforts, and public
and private partners are working together more than ever
before.
Learn more at
jointhetransformation.org

4. We’ve entered a new era of
collaboration between doctors and
midwives.
A joint practice statement between ACOG and ACNM,
jointly published manuscripts on collaborative practice, and
the historic Home Birth Consensus Summit are just three
examples from 2011.
Learn more at
jointhetransformation.org

5. Some troubling trends are slowing
or reversing.
In December, the CDC released data showing that the
cesarean section rate dropped for the first time in over a
decade by a modest but welcome 0.1%. The preterm
birth rate and teen pregnancy rates were also lower,
following on recent declines.
Learn more at
jointhetransformation.org

6. Shared decision making and
maternity care are together at last.
As health care reform efforts go after the triple aim of
better health, better health care, and lower costs,
shared decision making has emerged as a key strategy
to achieve all three. 2011 brought a major
announcement from Childbirth Connection and the
Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making that
the two organizations are teaming up to produce a suite
of evidence-based shared decision making tools for
maternity care. The tools will launch in 2012.
Learn more at
jointhetransformation.org

7. The Woman- and Family-Centered
Maternity Care Home was born.
Although the concept has been gestating for a few years,
we saw lots of activity to design and test maternity care
adaptations to the Patient-Centered Medical Home. Early
efforts in states like North Carolina and Minnesota will
help identify opportunities and test feasibility. The Quality
Care for Moms and Babies Act, if passed, will fund more
demonstration projects.
Learn more at
jointhetransformation.org

8. Employers and payers stepped up
to the plate.
We saw countless examples of payers using their
purchasing power to drive better quality and value for
maternity care.
Learn more at
jointhetransformation.org

9. Performance measurement gathered
momentum.
Just a few years ago there was no set of nationally
endorsed measures of maternity care quality but this has
changed rapidly, with efforts gathering steam in 2011.
Learn more at
jointhetransformation.org

10. Clinician and hospital leaders
embraced patient safety.
The year ended with an historic joint Call to Action from the
major maternity professional organizations for inter-
professional collaboration to improve safety and quality.
This was an exciting cap to a year that also brought us the
Partnership for Patients and several major reports of
comprehensive patient safety programs implemented in
hospitals and health systems.
Learn more at
jointhetransformation.org

11. Nurses’ leadership in quality
improvement became clearer than
ever.
Nurses are natural leaders in hospital improvement efforts
as they are at the front lines of care delivery and have a
view of the problems that need solutions. In 2011, we saw
more and more quality and safety initiatives in the nursing
literature.
Learn more at
jointhetransformation.org

12. The improvement toolbox is
overflowing.
2011 brought more new data sources, robust toolkits, and
several direction-setting reports, like the white paper from
the California Maternity Quality Care Collaborative setting a
public agenda for reducing cesareans in low risk women,
the National Quality Strategy, a new white paper on patient-
clinician communication, and new standards for the conduct
of systematic reviews and creation of clinical practice
guidelines.
Learn more at
jointhetransformation.org

13. You can read more about the
Maternity Care Transformation in
2011 at
bit.ly/2011transformation