Hospitals Honored for Low C-Section Rates

The California Health and Human Services Department recently recognized hospitals for reducing cesarean births for first-time moms with low-risk pregnancies. Ten hospitals in the Sutter Health Plus network were named to the state’s 2016 Hospital C-section Honor Roll.

California Health and Human Services Secretary Diana Dooley announced achievement awards this week on behalf of Smart Care California, a coalition of public and private health care purchasers that collectively cover 16 million people statewide—or 40 percent of all Californians.

The following hospitals in the Sutter Health Plus network were named to the 2016 Hospital C-section Honor Roll:

• Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, Berkeley
• California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco
• Eden Medical Center, Castro Valley
• El Camino Hospital, Los Gatos
• Sutter Davis Hospital
• Sutter Delta Medical Center, Antioch
• Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital
• Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento
• Sutter Roseville Medical Center
• Sutter Solano Medical Center, Vallejo

To respond to the rise in unnecessary C-sections, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services set a 2020 goal of reducing nationwide C-section rates for low-risk first births to 23.9 percent. This week’s California awards, which will be given annually, acknowledge hospitals that have achieved—and in many cases gone beyond—that goal.

For more information, visit www.chhs.ca.gov.