Newsweek Includes LLU Children’s Hospital in Best Maternity Care List

By: Briana Pastorino and Sheann Brandon, Loma Linda University Health News

Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital was named to Newsweek magazine’s 2021 list of Best Maternity Care Hospitals, recognizing the facility for excelling in providing care to mothers, newborns, and their families, as verified by the 2020 Leapfrog Hospital Survey.

Courtney Martin, director of maternity services, said all of the work in building safety infrastructure, building teamwork, and listening to women continues to be the center of care at Children’s Hospital.

“Being recognized as a top maternity care hospital solidifies the day-in-and-day-out multi-disciplinary effort to give pregnant women the safe care they deserve,” Martin said. “Our team, including nurses, staff, medical students, residents, pharmacists, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) teams, pediatric teams, critical care teams, anesthesiologists, perinatologists, and OB physicians work tirelessly to reduce unnecessary C-sections, develop and implement innovative quality and safety initiatives, focus on patient-centered care with shared decision-making, follow national guidelines and safety goals, and strive for health-care equity.”

Loma Linda University Medical Center – Murrieta has been named twice in a row to Newsweek’s list of Best Maternity Care Hospitals, receiving recognition in 2020 and 2021.

Children’s Hospital and LLUMC – Murrieta are two of 217 hospitals providing maternity services to receive the accolade.

Hospitals named as a Best Maternity Care Hospital have fully met The Leapfrog Group’s standards for maternity care on evidence-based, nationally standardized metrics. This includes lower rates of early elective delivery, NTSV C-section, and episiotomy, as well as compliance with process measures, including newborn bilirubin screening prior to discharge and blood clot prevention techniques for mothers delivering via C-section.

Best Maternity Hospitals is part of Newsweek’s Best Health Care series, powered by data from The Leapfrog Group.

The full list of recipients is available online and was to be released at newsstands across the United States and elsewhere.

The original version of this story was posted on the Loma Linda University Health news site.