Ascension Via Christi St. Joseph earns U.S. News & World Report Best Maternity Care recognition for second year in a row

The two Ascension Kansas hospitals also were among the honorees when U.S. News published its inaugural analysis of the nation’s best places to go for maternity care. At that time, they were the only Kansas hospitals outside the Kansas City metro area to make the U.S. News list.

This latest recognition comes on the heels of Ascension Via Christi St. Joseph:

• Making Money magazine and The Leapfrog Group's 2022 list of Best Hospitals for Maternity Care that was released in October. To qualify for the list, hospitals had to have achieved an A or B Hospital Safety Grade on Leapfrog's spring 2022 assessment and meet Leapfrog's standards for early elective deliveries, Cesarean births, episiotomies, DVT prophylaxis, bilirubin screening and high-risk deliveries.
• Earning High 5 for Mom & Baby Premier recognition in March from the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund, a program to increase breastfeeding initiation and duration rates in Kansas. It is the only Wichita-area hospital to earn recognition as a Baby Friendly facility.

"Our entire NewLife Center team continues to do a phenomenal job in delivering compassionate, personalized care to expectant mothers, newborns and their families before, during and after delivery," says Robyn Chadwick, president for Ascension Via Christi St. Joseph. “Achieving repeat recognition by multiple national quality ratings firms is an awesome validation of the quality of care they provide.”

Of the approximately 2,700 U.S. hospitals that provide maternity services, only 297 were recognized by the U.S. News as “High Performing."

When expectant parents are considering their options for welcoming a baby into the world, the Best Hospitals in Maternity Care is designed to help them identify hospitals that excel in delivery of babies for uncomplicated pregnancies, says Ben Harder, chief of health analysis and managing editor for U.S. News. “A hospital that has earned a High Performing designation may be a good option for parents, in consultation with their medical provider, to consider,” he says.

To achieve this recognition, hospitals had to excel on multiple quality metrics that matter to expectant families: low rates of scheduled early deliveries, C-sections in lower-risk pregnancies, and unexpected newborn complications and high rates of women having the option of a vaginal birth after a Cesarean and exclusive breast milk feeding.

"Because this data was limited to uncomplicated deliveries, it provides an objective look at the quality of maternity care provided by participating hospitals," says pediatrician Philip Newlin, MD, chief medical officer for Ascension Medical Group Via Christi and the clinical leader for Women's and Children's Services at Ascension Via Christi.

"This back-to-back recognition speaks volumes to the consistently high quality of care that every member of our Ascension Via Christi team provides in helping women manage their pregnancies before, during and after delivery," Dr. Newlin says. "It is a testament to their individual and collective efforts and collaboration and teamwork."

Should difficulties arise, the Ascension Via Christi St. Joseph's Level III NICU is just down the hall and its team stands ready to provide the same high level of care to fragile newborns. For the past five years, the NICU has been under the medical direction of neonatologists from Children's Mercy Kansas City, which earlier this year U.S. News and World Report ranked No. 14 on its annual list of the best hospitals for neonatology.

Learn more about maternity care at Ascension Via Christi by visiting https://healthcare.ascension.org/specialty-care/ob-gyn/pregnancy-birthing/why-ascension/ksasc-ks-maternity-care