LVHN, Tower Health hospitals recognized for maternal, newborn care

The Pennsylvania Perinatal Quality Collaborative (PA PQC) announced the recipients of its inaugural Designations Awards for maternal and newborn care.

Designation awards and levels are based on meeting quality improvement milestone criteria over a 12-month period, starting from April 2023 through March 2024, the organization administered by the Jewish Healthcare Foundation and WHAMglobal, said in a release.

Those earning the silver or gold designation level have undertaken additional projects focused on health equity and/or patient voice within maternal health care.

Designation signifies the hospital has established multidisciplinary teams that have demonstrated improvements in maternal and newborn care by sharing best practices and data in their hospital and community, PA PQC said.

A gold designation signifies a hospital's proven commitment to health equity (HE) and patient voice (PV) in their quality improvement work. A silver signifies the hospital's dedicated commitment to incorporating HE or PV into their quality improvement work. A bronze designation signifies the hospital met the required quality improvement submission criteria for at least 2 of the 4 quarters.

Hospitals had the opportunity to earn a Designation for each 2023-24 PA PQC initiative that they actively participated in, including Immediate Postpartum Long-Acting Reversible Contraception (IPLARC), substance use disorders (SUD), and substance exposed newborn (SEN).

Hospitals recognized include:

Lehigh Valley Hospital - Cedar Crest (SEN Bronze, SUD Bronze, IPLARC Bronze)

Lehigh Valley Hospital Hazleton (SEN Bronze, SUD Bronze, IPLARC Bronze)

Lehigh Valley Hospital Muhlenberg (SEN Bronze, SUD Bronze)

Lehigh Valley Hospital Pocono (SEN Bronze, SUD Bronze, IPLARC Bronze)

Lehigh Valley Hospital Schuylkill (SEN Bronze, SUD Bronze)

Tower Health Reading Hospital Center (SUD/PV Silver, SEN Bronze)

In Pennsylvania, perinatal health issues persist, including racial and ethnic disparities in maternal and neonatal outcomes, higher than average maternal sepsis rates, and drug overdose deaths during pregnancy and postpartum. PA PQC said.

The PA PQC addresses these challenges through various initiatives, including Maternal Opioid Use Disorder, Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome, Maternal Sepsis, and Safe Sleep. Through collaborative efforts, the PA PQC said it aims to improve maternal and neonatal health outcomes across the state.

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