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Relationship between Hospital Policies for Labor Induction and Cesarean Delivery and Perinatal Care Quality among Rural U.S. Hospitals
- Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Volume 27, Number 4, November 2016 Supplement
- pp. 128-143
- 10.1353/hpu.2016.0180
- Article
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Many hospitals are adopting quality improvement strategies in obstetrics. This study characterized rural U.S. hospitals based on their hospital staffing and clinical management policies for labor induction and cesarean delivery, and assessed the relationship between policies and performance on maternity care quality. We surveyed all 306 rural maternity hospitals in nine states and used data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Statewide Inpatient Database hospital discharge database. We found staffing policies were more prevalent at lower-volume hospitals (92% vs. 86% for cesarean and 82% vs. 79%, both