Bayfront Health Port Charlotte Received the Florida Award for Safely Reducing Primary C-Sections
11/30/2018
CHARLOTTE COUNTY, FL (November 30, 2018) – Bayfront Port Charlotte was honored by the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) and the Florida Department of Health (DOH) as one of 20 Florida hospitals that achieved the Healthy People 2020 (HP2020) Maternal and Child Health goal focused on reducing cesarean section deliveries for first-time mothers with low-risk pregnancies in 2017. AHCA and DOH announced the recognition at the Florida Hospital Association’s annual meeting during the Celebration of Achievement in Quality and Service Awards Ceremony.
While life-saving in certain cases, cesarean sections (C-sections) can pose serious health risks to mothers and babies. Once a woman has a cesarean, she has a greater chance of having a C-section for subsequent births, increasing her risk of major birth complications. For the baby, some of the consequences can include a longer hospital stay in the neonatal intensive care unit, as well as higher rates of respiratory infection.
The mission of this recognition program is to highlight the importance of this health care quality issue statewide and to recognize those hospitals that are contributing to providing quality health care for mothers and infants. Both AHCA and DOH have recognized that the high rate of low-risk cesarean births is a major maternal and child health issue in Florida, as the state has one of the highest rates in the nation.
C-section rates for first-time low-risk pregnancies in Florida delivery hospitals range from 17 percent to 61 percent. State and local health officials believe that variation at this magnitude indicates a serious public health concern that needs to be addressed statewide. In response to the rise of unnecessary C-sections across the United States, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services adopted the HP2020 target of reducing nationwide C-section rates for low-risk births to 23.9 percent.
“We are committed to improving health outcomes for Florida mothers and infants,” says Tim Cerullo, Market CEO for Bayfront Health Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda. “Being recognized as only one of twenty hospitals in the state to be at or below this national goal is a testament of our team’s exceptional efforts to provide evidence-based maternal and infant health care practices.”
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