Which States Have the Most Outstanding Hospitals for Maternity Care?

By
MedPub
December 10, 2024, 12:01 AM ET
3 min read

This is a MedPage Today story.

Among the 414 facilities that earned top marks on the 2024 "Best Hospitals for Maternity Care" list from U.S. News & World Report, 17 states had 10 or more high-performing hospitals.

California had the most, followed by New Jersey, and Texas. Rhode Island and South Dakota did not have any facilities evaluated; Delaware and Washington did not have any high-performing hospitals.

Overall, just half of the 817 facilities evaluated were designated as high-performing.

"With a record-breaking number of hospitals evaluated, U.S. News' 2025 Best Hospitals for Maternity Care ratings represent the most comprehensive resource yet for expectant parents," said Jennifer Winston, PhD, health data scientist at U.S. News, in a statement. "These high-performing hospitals showcase exceptional care for expectant parents, demonstrating significantly lower C-section rates and severe unexpected newborn complications compared to hospitals not recognized by U.S. News."

The ratings for hospital maternity care began in 2021, according to the outlet. Last year, 680 hospitals submitted survey data and were eligible for potential recognition, with 311 facilities earning top marks and a dozen states having ≥10 high-performing hospitals.

To identify high-performing facilities, U.S. News stated that a composite score was used that looked at the following measures:

  • Lower risk pregnancy C-section delivery rates
  • Severe unexpected newborn complication rates
  • Routine vaginal birth after C-section delivery rates
  • Commitment to exclusive breast-milk feeding
  • Episiotomy rates
  • Birthing-friendly practices
  • Transparency on racial and ethnic disparities

    • New components of this year's methodology included additional ways for hospitals to demonstrate a commitment to breast-milk feeding, and the use of rates of severe unexpected newborn complications rather than overall unexpected complications in scoring, the outlet noted.

    "In recognition of the importance of transparency of racial and ethnic disparities in maternity care outcomes," U.S. News added that it "increased the weight of the reporting on racial and ethnic disparities measure from 5% to 10%."

    Other adjustments included also increasing the weight of birthing-friendly practices from 5% to 10%.

    In addition to high-performing facilities, a new "Maternity Care Access Hospital" designation was added to the ratings last year. In the inaugural year for this designation, 73 facilities that provide care to expectant parents "who wouldn't otherwise have access to maternity care and serve communities that would otherwise be maternity care deserts" were awarded, U.S. News previously noted.

    This year, 118 facilities were awarded the designation, and 75 facilities were designated as both maternity care access and high-performing hospitals.

    The following is a list of states with the highest number of high-performing hospitals, according to this year's "Best Hospitals for Maternity Care" list.

    States With the Most High-Performing Hospitals

    California: 71

    New Jersey: 25

    Texas: 24

    North Carolina: 23

    Pennsylvania: 22

    Wisconsin: 19

    Illinois: 18

    Florida: 17

    Michigan: 15

    New York: 15

    Missouri: 13

    Ohio: 13

    Colorado: 11

    Utah: 11

    Washington: 11

    Indiana: 10

    Virginia: 10