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An image of Upstate Community Hospital at night.

Healthgrades give Upstate Community Hospital 5-star rating for vaginal births

The Family Birth Center at Upstate Community Hospital has been named a five-star facility for vaginal delivery as recognized by Healthgrades, an independent organization that evaluates hospital performance across the country.

The five-star rating indicates that Upstate’s clinical outcomes for vaginal delivery are statistically better than expected, according to Healthgrades. Healthgrades found that from 2016 to 2018, women having vaginal deliveries in hospitals with a five-star rating had, on average, a 43.6 percent lower risk of complications during their hospitalization when compared to facilities with a one-star rating.

Kenneth Rhee, MD, is director of obstetrics and gynecology hospitalist program at the Family Birth Center at Upstate Community Hospital. Rhee said Upstate’s use of midwives and exceptional nursing care encourage vaginal deliveries and enhance the entire labor and delivery process for mothers.

“Having midwives is a huge benefit to supporting vaginal deliveries,” Rhee said. “Midwives tend to spend a lot of time with laboring mothers. They provide not only physical but emotional support, encouraging women to promote vaginal delivery. They collaborate with physicians to provide optimal care for their patients.

“Whenever I hear about accolades like this they invariably involve great nursing care, which is certainly the case at the Family Birth Center. Without great nursing care you don’t get good medical care.”

Family Birth Center Nurse Manager Barbara Bennett, RN, BSN, said her staff should be proud of the rating.

“The Upstate nurses who work in the Family Birth Center provide exceptional patient to mothers and babies every day,” Bennett said. “Our phenomenal nurses keep families safe, healthy and comfortable during their entire stay with us and I’m thrilled that Healthgrades has recognized our facility for its service to the community.”

The Family Birth Center at Upstate Community Hospital completed a $9.2 million renovation in late 2018 of the post-partum unit. The newly renovated Family Birth Center includes 21 large single-occupancy rooms for moms and babies as well as an additional nurses’ station, a lactation room and a six-bed nursery.  

About 1,000 babies are born at Upstate each year.

“Hospital quality should be top of mind for consumers when they evaluate and compare hospital performance,” said Brad Bowman, MD, chief medical officer of Healthgrades. “Women who select a hospital with a five-star rating can feel confident in their choice knowing that these organizations are committed to providing exceptional women’s care to their patients.”

For more information about the Family Birth Center visit www.upstate.edu/birthcenter.

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