FW: Childbirth Connection News & Updates

[tara o'kane]

Tara O'Kane, BHK, RMT

#200-1789 Harvey Avenue

Kelowna BC, V1Y 6G4

Phone:  250.868.0999

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From: Childbirth...@mail.vresp.com
To: tara...@hotmail.com
Subject: Childbirth Connection News & Updates
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 16:07:24 +0000

90th Anniversary Symposium a Resounding Success On April 3rd, Childbirth Connection hosted its 90th anniversary symposium, Transforming Maternity Care: A High Value Proposition,  in Washington, DC. Well over one hundred of the nation’s foremost health policy experts and maternity care stakeholders – from health plans and purchasers to consumers and clinicians – worked for 18 months to plan and prepare reports and consensus recommendations to improve the quality and value of maternity care. Nearly 250 leaders from across the health system convened at the symposium to discuss these recommendations. The productive dialogue among symposium faculty, participants and journalists will contribute to a Blueprint for Action to be published later this year. Read more about Transforming Maternity Care and the vision paper upon which it was grounded – 2020 Vision for a High Quality, High Value Maternity Care System. New Evidence Column Now Available Four times each year, Childbirth Connection contributes "Current Resources for Evidence-Based Practice" to both Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic and Neonatal Nursing and Journal of Midwifery and Women's Health. The March/April column includes discussion of the new perinatal standards endorsed by the National Quality Forum (read more about the measures below). Download JOGNN March/April (free PDF) Download JMWH March/April (free PDF) Click here for all Evidence Columns 2003-2009 Childbirth Connection Proposal for Maternity Care within Health Care Reform Read our statement on health care reform. The aim of this document is to ensure that the distinctive needs of childbearing families are addressed as the nation seeks ways to reform health care, and that the maternity care system is reshaped to consistently deliver high quality and high value. New Tools to Improve Maternity Care Quality In October, the National Quality Forum (NQF) released important new tools for improving the quality of maternity care: a set of 17 national measures for assessing the quality of care around the time of birth. NQF is a not-for-profit membership organization that works on health care quality measurement and reporting. Maureen Corry, Childbirth Connection’s Executive Director, was co-chair of the NQF steering committee that evaluated available measures for care around the time of birth, and recommended the best ones for NQF endorsement. Several of the measures should — if widely implemented — improve care for a large proportion of childbearing women and newborns: Elective delivery prior to 39 completed weeks gestation; Cesarean rate for low-risk first-birth women; Incidence of episiotomy; and, Exclusive breastfeeding at hospital discharge. Click for more information about the quality measures and their importance. National Priorities Partnership Formed to Improve Health Care Quality Convened by the National Quality Forum, the National Priorities Partnership is a new coalition of 28 organizations whose mission is to identify and address national goals and priorities for improving the quality of health care. Because this group comprises major organizations and agencies that involve many companies, individuals and interests, their recommendations have a lot of influence. Five of six areas of focus have important implications for maternity care: engaging patients and families, improving population health, making health care safer, improving care coordination, and reducing overused practices. We are pleased to report that the Partnership is “working to ensure that all health care organizations will continually strive to improve the delivery of appropriate patient care, and substantially and measurably reduce unwarranted maternity care interventions” such as unnecessary cesarean section. Click for more information about the Partnership. Thank you for your continued support, Childbirth Connection

Childbirth Connection's Health Care Reform Statement (PDF) Report: Evidence Based Maternity Care Report: New Mothers Speak Out Maternity Quality Matters Initiative Listening to Mothers II

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