UChicago Medicine AdventHealth Hinsdale and UChicago Medicine AdventHealth Bolingbrook have been recognized by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois with a Blue Distinction® Centers+ for Maternity Care designation, as part of the Blue Distinction Specialty Care program. To earn this designation, each facility must deliver quality care, safely and cost-effectively.
The Blue Distinction Centers for Maternity Care program plays a key role in the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association’s (BCBSA) National Health Equity Strategy aimed at reducing racial health disparities across the care spectrum and improving patient outcomes for all Americans. To align with this strategy, the Blue Distinction Centers for Maternity Care program enhanced its quality and measurement standards to recognize high quality facilities that have taken action to respond effectively to obstetric emergencies, reduce racial disparities and improve maternal health outcomes.
Based on data from the current designation cycle, facilities designated under the Blue Distinction Centers for Maternity Care program demonstrate high quality care compared to non-Blue Distinction Center facilities, with overall average rates of 26% lower episiotomies, 60% fewer elective deliveries and 17% lower cesarean births — all of which can contribute to healthier outcomes for patients. The Blue Distinction Centers+ facilities also exhibited an average savings of 21% for maternity care.
“Our teams work tirelessly to address the needs of every individual and provide the best care possible. These distinctions from Blue Cross and Blue Shield reflect the strong commitment of our physicians, nurses and other staff members to ensuring our patients’ safety, while providing our community with respectful, equitable and compassionate care,” said Lynda Lentini, Regional Director of Women's and Children's Services at UChicago Medicine AdventHealth Hinsdale and Bolingbrook. “We take great pride in the care we provide our patients, which is demonstrated in our quality outcomes, patient satisfaction scores and support from our community.”
The Blue Distinction Centers for Maternity Care program’s selection criteria was devised to help close clinical care gaps and help reduce inequities that persist throughout the maternal care spectrum. The selection criteria includes components of BCBSA’s Maternal Health Equity Actions, which help dismantle the cultural, operational and structural barriers that have created inequities that persist in maternal care.
To be designated under this program, each applicant facility was evaluated on a combination of objective data on patient outcomes as well as the practices implemented to reduce racial disparities and improve maternal health outcomes, such as:
- Collecting race, ethnicity and language data
- Demonstrating health outcomes that exceed the selection criteria from our program’s previous evaluation cycle
- Having a program dedicated to quality improvements in maternal care
- Having doula support available on the maternity care team
- Offering unconscious bias training
- Participating in the regional Perinatal Quality Collaborative
- Running drills and simulations to prepare providers are prepared to deal with a range of obstetric emergencies
- Using evidence-based best practices to respond effectively to obstetric emergencies
Derek Robinson, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, commented: “We are pleased to recognize UChicago Medicine AdventHealth for their attention to helping deliver the best possible care to address maternal and fetal health. Their Blue Distinction Specialty Care approach will aim to lead to the best possible outcomes for members.”
