Mercy Hospital Named Among Best in Nation for Labor and Delivery Care

Nov 20, 2020Mercy Hospital of Buffalo, News & PR, WomenCare

Recipient of the Healthgrades 2020 Labor and Delivery Excellence Award

Mercy Hospital announced today that it is a recipient of Healthgrades 2020 Labor and Delivery Excellence Award™. This distinction places the hospital in the top 10% of all hospitals evaluated in the nation for exceptional care of mothers during and after labor and delivery, according to Healthgrades, the leading resource that connects consumers, physicians and health systems.

“We are proud of our entire healthcare team, whose hard work and dedication to excellence enables Mercy Hospital to achieve this national recognition,” said Eddie Bratko, Mercy Hospital President. “This award exemplifies the commitment by our doctors, nurses, midwives and support staff to provide the highest quality labor and delivery care to families throughout Western New York.”

healthgrades excellence labor and delivery

Healthgrades Determines Outstanding Performance in Labor and Delivery

To help consumers evaluate and compare hospital performance in labor and delivery, Healthgrades analyzed patient outcomes data for virtually every hospital in the 16 states that provided all-payer state data from 2016 through 2018. Healthgrades found that the variation in hospital performance makes a significant difference in clinical outcomes:

  • If all hospitals included in the analysis performed similarly to those that received the Healthgrades Labor and Delivery Excellence Award, 124,867 patient complications could have potentially been avoided.*
  • Patients treated in hospitals receiving the Healthgrades Labor and Delivery Excellence Award had, on average, a 40% lower risk of experiencing a complication while in the hospital than if they were treated in hospitals that did not receive the award.*

What Makes the Mercy Labor & Delivery Team Stand Out

Mercy Hospital has taken several steps to deliver the highest quality labor & delivery care. In fact, all L&D nurses are certified in Electronic Fetal Monitoring, meaning they have experience and knowledge to properly assess the fetal condition, and all are certified in Neonatal Resuscitation Protocol, confirming they have experience and knowledge to properly identify and perform neonatal resuscitation if needed. In addition, Mercy Hospital caregivers and providers participate in the MORE OB Patient Safety Program, a national initiative focused on keeping mothers and babies safe during delivery. The L&D team also takes part in ongoing safety drills using labor simulations.

Laboring mothers at Mercy Hospital are also supported with 24/7 midwifery care; newly renovated birthing rooms featuring four rooms with hydrotherapy tubs; nitrous oxide for pain management; epidural analgesia; birthing balls and other products and services to ease labor.

In addition to being recognized with the Labor and Delivery Excellence Award in 2020, Mercy Hospital received top Five-Star ratings for Vaginal Delivery for three years in a row (2018-2020) and C-Section Delivery for six years in a row (2015-2020).

“Today, expectant parents are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of hospital quality and understand that it needs to play a factor in selecting where to deliver their baby,” said Brad Bowman, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Healthgrades. “The 2020 Labor and Delivery Excellence Award recognizes those hospitals that provide high quality care for mothers during labor and delivery, so parents can have confidence in their decision.”

* Statistics are based on Healthgrades’ analysis of all-payer data for years 2016 through 2018 and represent 3-year estimates for patients in 16 states for which all-payer data was made available.