October 2, 2019
Earlier this year, The Joint Commission announced plans to begin reporting on hospitals with high rates of cesarean sections (C-sections) in July 2020. The high-rate designation will be based on hospitals’ rates on the perinatal care (PC) cesarean birth measure—PC-02—reported to The Joint Commission.
To improve the quality and safety of care provided to women during all stages of pregnancy and postpartum, The Joint Commission recently announced two new PC standards that are set to go into effect July 1, 2020, for all Joint Commission-accredited hospitals.
PC-02 measures the rates of cesarean births among a subset of the general obstetric population of low-risk women having their first birth with a term, singleton baby in a vertex position. The three criteria that will determine whether a hospital is identified as having a high rate will be based on data reported for 2018 and 2019, as follows:
After the announcement, David Baker, MD, MPH, FACP, executive vice-president, Health Care Quality Evaluation, The Joint Commission, penned an article for The Joint Commission’s monthly blog Leading Hospital Improvement to provide answers to commonly asked questions, such as:*
In the blog, Dr. Baker also stated that The Joint Commission decided to move forward in reporting high C-section rates after making the following observations:*
The new standard on maternal hemorrhage will require organizations to complete an assessment using an evidence-based tool for determining risk upon admission to labor and delivery, as well as upon admission to postpartum care.
In addition, to improve the quality and safety of care provided to women during all stages of pregnancy and postpartum, The Joint Commission recently announced two new Provision of Care, Treatment, and Services (PC) standards that are set to take effect July 1, 2020, for all Joint Commission-accredited hospitals. They are as follows:†
The new standard on maternal hemorrhage will require organizations to complete an assessment using an evidence-based tool for determining risk upon admission to labor and delivery, as well as upon admission to postpartum care.
PC.06.01.01 also will require hospitals to develop written evidence-based procedures for stage-based management of pregnant and postpartum patients who experience maternal hemorrhage; the procedures include the following:†
To learn more about the new PC requirements, view the prepublication standards on The Joint Commission’s website.
The thoughts and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of Dr. Pellegrini and do not necessarily reflect those of The Joint Commission or the American College of Surgeons.
*Baker D. Public reporting of high cesarean rates to begin in July 2020. In: Leading Hospital Improvement. The Joint Commission. Available at: www.jointcommission.org/the_view_from_the_joint_commission/public_reporting_of_high_cesarean_rates_to_begin_in_july_2020/. Accessed August 30, 2019.
†Lyons M. New Joint Commission standards address rising maternal mortality in the U.S. The Joint Commission. Available at: www.jointcommission.org/new_joint_commission_standards_address_rising_maternal_mortality_/. Accessed August 30, 2019.