SSM Health Medical Minute: SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital named Best Maternity Hospital for third year in a row

For the third consecutive year, SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital – St. Louis, located in Richmond Heights, has been included on Newsweek’s prestigious list of America’s Best Maternity Hospitals.

The selection of honorees for 2024 was based on a combination of three key factors:

• Recommendations from maternity-focused health care professionals as part of a nationwide survey
• Surveys of patients regarding their hospital experience, including both quality of care and satisfaction with the hospital stay
• Hospital quality metrics relevant to maternity care, such as infection prevention and cesarean births

“We are extremely excited to be on the list again. It highlights our quality of care and the focus we put on our patients and their families for maternity services throughout the region,” Katie Althoff-Moore, the regional director of maternity services for SSM Health, said.

“I’m extremely proud of all the hard work that we have initiated into our quality-of-care different initiatives for our patients and families. We have from Respectful Care initiative to our low C-section rate across the region. We really try to focus on giving that high quality atmosphere for all of our patients.”

SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital is the OBGYN residency home for the maternal-fetal fellowship program of Saint Louis University School of Medicine.

“As the high-risk obstetric center, we are able to provide not only a teaching atmosphere and academic role for residents and fellows coming through,” Althoff-Moore. “We’re able to give that extra step with our neonatologist to provide not only the maternal side of things but also neonatal side. So we have our own NICU here to level three that (Cardinal) Glennon physicians come back from Glennon, also over to St. Mary’s to cover.”

Neoatologists from SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital support both programs and work in collaboration with them.

To learn more about the Family Birthplace at SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital, click here .

The SSM Health Medical Minute airs Wednesdays on News 11 at 7 p.m. and FOX 2 News at 9 p.m.

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