- California: As part of a broader effort to reduce the rate of C-sections in the state, the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF) has partnered with Yelp to enable people using the consumer-review website to look up maternity care metrics for local hospitals. The metrics include the percentage of C-section deliveries in low-risk pregnancies to first-time mothers, the availability of vaginal birth after C-section, and how often vaginal births among women with prior C-section occur at the facility (Faust, KPCC, 7/27; CHCF release, July 2017).
- Texas: The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) on Wednesday said health officials have identified a probable case of locally transmitted Zika virus in Hidalgo County. Donald McNeil reports for the New York Times that the case would be the first known instance of local Zika transmission in the continental United States in 2017. DSHS in a statement said the case "was probably transmitted by a mosquito bite in South Texas sometime in the last few months." Officials said the person infected with the virus is no longer capable of transmitting it (McNeil, New York Times, 7/26).
- Washington, D.C.: House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) has been discharged from the hospital, six weeks after being shot in the hip at a congressional baseball practice. MedStar Washington Hospital Center, where Scalise was being treated, in a statement Wednesday said he "has made excellent progress in his recovery from [the] life-threatening gunshot wound." According to MedStar, Scalise is "now beginning a period of intensive inpatient rehabilitation." MedStar said he is "in good spirits and is looking forward to his return to work once he completes rehabilitation" (Nunn, Wall Street Journal, 7/26).
9 elements of top perinatal patient safety programs
Perinatal care is a high-volume service, accounting for one-fifth of all hospital stays. Yet it is also highly variable, with significant differences in complication rates for both vaginal and cesarean deliveries between hospitals nationwide.
This toolkit is designed to help hospitals seize the opportunity to strengthen perinatal patient outcomes. It includes best practices and resources collected from organizations that have successfully improved labor and delivery care by reducing clinical variability.