This program provides support to hospital teams working to achieve PVB and Birth Equity aims, sustain initiative efforts and demonstrate a reduction in disparities. Hospitals can achieve this quality designation by submitting monthly sustainability data for Birth Equity / PVB on the following criteria: Participation with ILPQC, education of clinical team, engagement of patients and community, and achievement of aims on outcome measures and reduction of disparities. There are two tiers of quality designation. Tier 2: Birth Care Quality Star recipients will receive $10,000 and Tier 1: Birth Care Quality Excellence recipients will receive $20,000. Tier 2 components include additional ILPQC participation activities, achievement of aims on all outcome measures, and reduction of disparities gap in NTSV cesarean rates. 

As hospitals work towards achieving BCBS Designation, hospital teams will also be eligible for mini-grants to support the implementation of key strategies for this program. 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), and training to support equitable and respectful care and/or quality improvement implementation for clinical staff (up to $2,500 total for training). 

Hospitals meeting the quality designation criteria receive recognition and a monetary award. 

1.Actively participate with ILPQC

• Attend monthly webinars between January and September 2025
• Attend in-person meetings
• Submit data between January and September 2025
• Share data with your clinical staff
• Collect race, ethnicity, and language data
• Stratify data by race, ethnicity, and insurance status
• Participate in quality improvement support 

2. Educate clinical teams, for both tiers

• Provide clinical team education yearly and for new hires that addresses patient experience of care with a focus on reducing disparities, such as: 
  • Unconscious bias (implicit bias)​​
  • Respectful care ​​
  • Trauma – informed care
  • Shared decision making​​
  • Reducing stigma and/or ​​
  • Active listening​

3. Engage patients and community, for both tiers​

• Engagement of a patient partner in the quality improvement team​
• Hold 2 or more respectful care breakfasts per year​
• Coordinate quality improvement efforts to engage outpatient prenatal clinics, federally qualified health centers and other community health clinics affiliated with your hospital​
• Build relationships with community-based doulas, home visiting programs or other community resources in your hospital catchment to create points of access to improve referral of patients to these community resources ​
• Review labor and delivery policies and procedures to promote doula-friendly unit culture and strategies to support doula participation in the maternity care team. ​
• Implement patient reported experience measures (“PREM”) Survey for patient survey on respectful care for 10% or more of deliveries per month or at least 15 deliveries per month​

4. Achieve aims and reduce disparities​

• Achieve healthy people nulliparous, term, singleton, vertex (“NTSV”) cesarean rate of ≤ 23.6% ​
• Achieve ≤ 25% NTSV cesarean rate for all stratified groups​
• Link ≥ 70% of patients who screen positive for social determinant of health needs to community resources ​
• Achieve 3 out of 3 for Tier 2, 3 out of 3 for Tier 1

1. Submit the REDCap Survey to determine who will need access to new REDCap data form to submit sustainability data: Found HERE
2. Submit the monthly sustainability data form to track progress towards designation and key BE and PVB sustainability measures
3. Submit your mini grant application to receive money toward key QI activities (link NOT yet available)
4. Register for and attend the next Designation Webinar in April (link NOT yet available)