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Assessing Health Outcomes by Birth Settings

Completed

Regional focus

North America

Topics

The March 2018 omnibus appropriations bill, led by Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA) and Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA), included language calling on the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) to request that the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine conduct the study that resulted the report Birth Settings in America: Outcomes, Quality, Access, and Choice (2020).

The ad hoc committee of experts convened by the National Acadmies authored the report, which examines the evidence on health outcomes across birth settings, particularly with regard to subpopulations of women. (See full statement of task below.)

About Publications/Resources Past Events

Featured publication

Consensus

·

2020

The delivery of high quality and equitable care for both mothers and newborns is complex and requires efforts across many sectors. The United States spends more on childbirth than any other country in the world, yet outcomes are worse than other high-resource countries, and even worse for Black and...

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Educational Resource

Highlights: Improving Access to Choice in Birth Settinga

Educational Resource

Highlights for Maternity Care Providers

Educational Resource

Implications of International Examples

Educational Resource

Video: Understanding Birth Settings in America

Educational Resource

Science shows opportunities for improving care across birth settings. Home, birth center, and hospital birth settings each offer risks and benefits to pregnant people and newborns. While no setting is risk free, we can modify risks within each setting and across settings. And, we can make birth safer for all with greater integration throughout the maternity care system.

Video: Improving Access and Choice in Birth Settings

Educational Resource

How can we improve pregnant people’s choice and access to the full range of birth settings and types of maternity care providers? Pregnant individuals should be able to make informed decisions about the care they receive during pregnancy. But an individual’s choice in birth setting may be limited by their access to care.

Video: What Providers Need to Know

Educational Resource

Childbirth services play a critical role in the provision of health care in the United States, but some pregnant people experience a gap between the care they expect and deserve and the care they need. How can maternity care providers in all settings help reduce this gap?

Video: Learning from the International Experience

Educational Resource

What can the U.S. maternity care system learn from the international experience? Drawing lessons from international examples and pockets of high-performing care in the United States, Birth Settings in America identifies ways to improve childbirth services in hospitals, birth centers, and home birth settings.

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