Midwife led birth centers, a key to reduction of caesarean sections and costs

"With health care costs skyrocketing and approximately one-third of all hospital births resulting in cesareans in the United States, childbirth overseen in midwife-led birth centers is emerging as a safe and cost-effective alternative to hospital births, cites a new study conducted by the American Association of Birth Centers (AABC) and published in the Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health, the official journal of the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM).

The safety and efficacy of child birth centers has been supported by well established evidence featured in The National Birth Center Study II. Most birth centers utilize midwives as the primary care providers, working collaboratively with physicians, hospitals, and other maternity care professionals in a team approach to maternity care. Midwives are health care professionals responsible for the pregnancy, labor, and childbirth care of the women they serve.

AABC President-Elect and founder of Charleston Birthplace, Inc. Lesley Rathbun, CNM, FNP, MSN describes a birth center as “a homelike facility existing within the health care system with a program of care designed in the wellness model of pregnancy and birth. Birth centers provide family centered care for healthy women before, during, and after normal pregnancy, labor, and birth.”

According to the study, of the 15,574 women receiving care in 79 midwife-led birth centers in 33 states from 2007 to 2010, 13,030 women (84%) gave birth at birth centers, while 2,544 women (16%) gave birth in hospitals."

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To midwives the world over : we are all resolute in our commitment to the health of woman and her family.