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Illinois Birthing Hospital Quality Designation Program with funding from BCBSIL Special Beginnings® Program

Recognition

Statewide recognition with a Birth Quality Designation Award for achieving Promoting Vaginal Birth and Birth Equity key strategies for sustainability and demonstrating reduction in NTSV cesarean disparities 

Support

Mini-grant funding up to $3,750 and quality improvement support to help hospitals implement key strategies toward achieving designation criteria 

Monetary Award

Monetary award of $10,000-$20,000 towards your OB Department for achievement of a Birth Quality Designation Award criteria.  If achieved, funds will be directed to OB Department Quality Improvement (QI) efforts and other opportunities to improve OB patient care at your institution. 

The mini-grant funding and monetary awards for designation are funded by the BCBSIL Special Beginnings® program and time limited with current funding for 2 years (2025 and 2026 awards). ILPQC will continue the Birth Quality Designation Program going forward with ongoing statewide recognition. 

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Thank you to everyone who attended our Illinois Birthing Hospital Quality Designation and BE/PVB Sustainability Webinar on March 3rd!

On Monday, March 3rd, 2025 at 12pm CDT, ILPQC reviewed our new Illinois Birthing Hospital Quality Designation Program and support for hospital teams  working to achieve and sustain PVB and Birth Equity aims. Download the Quality Designation and BE/PVB Sustainability Webinar slides HERE and the recording HERE. 

To achieve Illinois Birthing Hospital Quality Designation, hospital teams will:

1. Submit any outstanding PVB or BE sustainability plans to illinoispqc@gmail.com

  • Promoting Vaginal Birth Sustainability Plan template can be found HERE (pdf) and HERE (docx).
  • The Birth Equity Sustainability Plan template can be found HERE (pdf) and HERE (docx). 

2. Submit monthly sustainability data for Birth Equity and Promoting Vaginal Birth (Data form found HERE) to collect information on progress towards sustainability and designation criteria, including: 

  • Participation with ILPQC 
  • Education of clinical team 
  • Engagement of patients and community partners to improve care 
  • Achievement of initiative aims and reduction of disparities in NTSV cesarean birth 

3. Apply for mini-grants funding by April 1, 2025 to facilitate your hospital’s implementation of key strategies as they work towards designation. These mini-grants provide hospitals funding for patient and community engagement and quality improvement science and equity training accompanied with quality improvement support. Eligible activities include Respectful Care Breakfast funds, Patient Partner payment, Mommas Voices training, training to support a Doula friendly L&D, and training for equitable and respectful care and/or quality improvement implementation. Hospitals can receive a total of $3,750 per year in mini-grant funding for various eligible activities. 

        4. Work to achieve Illinois Birthing Hospital Quality Designation criteria below. Engaging patient and community partners and achieving reduction of NTSV cesarean disparities (race/ethnicity and by insurance status) will be key components of achieving this designation.  The goal for all hospitals is to achieve Birth Quality Excellence Designation. Hospitals meeting the quality designation criteria receive recognition and a monetary award.

        Birth Care Quality Excellence recipients will receive $20,000, and Birth Care Quality Star recipients will receive $10,000. Excellence recognition reflects achievement of all outcome measure aims along with additional participation in ILPQC activities.

        The Pathway to Designation:

        1. Submit any outstanding PVB or BE Sustainability Plans to illinoispqc@gmail.com. 
        2. Submit the monthly sustainability data form.
        3. Mini-grant application by April 1, 2025, for the opportunity to receive money for patient and community engagement and quality improvement science and equity training to implement key strategies as you work towards Illinois Birthing Hospital Quality Designation. 
        4. Register for and attend ILPQC Webinars
        5. Complete Quality Designation Application by September 30th, 2025.
          • Application will be available in Summer 2025 and linked when available.

        Mini-Grants

        All hospital teams are eligible to receive mini-grants (for 2025 and 2026) to help support the implementation of key strategies for sustaining PVB and Birth Equity work. Each hospital team can receive up to $3,750 total per year that can be used for various patient and community engagement and QI science and equity training.

              Applications for mini-grants are now open HERE until April 1, 2025. Teams will be asked to provide a brief description on how the funding will be used. Applications will be reviewed in the order received. Receiving a mini-grant does not impact eligibility to receive the Designation award. The ILPQC team will expect mini-grant recipients to provide progress updates as grants are used and a report on how money was used once grant is finished. 

              In order to receive payment, ILPQC will register the Hospital as a vendor in the Northwestern University system used by ILPQC. ILPQC will reach out to the primary contact for the needed information, starting with the hospital W-9 form. Vendor registration and payment can take a few weeks to process. 

              The Illinois Birth Hospital Quality Designation Program application and monetary award application is separate and will open in summer 2025. 

              Activities that are eligible for a mini-grant include: 

              • Respectful Care Breakfast food (Up to $500 total for 2 or more RCBs) 
              • Patient Partner payment for teams with an identified Patient Partner (Up to $300 total for up to 6 meetings per year) 
              • Mommas Voices training for teams with an identified Patient Partner (Up to $450 per patient advisor) 
              • Training to support equitable and respectful care and/or quality improvement implementation for clinical staff including IHI training for QI team leads and members, equity video viewing and discussion for clinical teams, doula training and integration (e.g. Doula meet and greets, Institute for Healthcare Improvement trainings, and other Performance and Quality Improvement trainings), and Labor management support training and tools (e.g. Spinning Babies and Labor support carts) (Up to $2,500 total for training).