¶ … Elective Delivery The Publication and the Issue that it Presents

The article entitled Born too early: Improving Maternal and Child Health by Reducing Early Elective Deliveries was published on NIHCM Foundation, Transforming Health Care Through Evidence and Collaborations. The article discusses the issue of possible negative health consequences that early elective deliveries poses on infants, mothers and on health care system collectively, along with additional costs as an unnecessary burden. Infants might face an increased risk of:

Poorer brain mass.

Respiratory Distress Syndrome (RDS).

Low birth weight.

Feeding problems.

Longer stay at hospital.

While mothers face an increased risk of:

Cesarean delivery.

Post-delivery depression.

Longer stay at hospital due to complications.

Price to the Health Care System:

Early Elective Deliveries (EED) are linked to an increased risk of cesarean delivery, which costs about 50% more than the costs of vaginal births, on an average. Moreover, premature infants, born before 39 weeks, are susceptible to get admitted to Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at a substantial increased expense for both Medicaid and commercial insurers (NIHCM Foundation, 2014).

2. The type of health care organization that I would like to work for in the future and the implications of this issue to that organization and to at least two groups of its stakeholders

I would like to work for National Child & Maternal Health Education Program (NCMHEP) in the future. To reduce elective deliveries, NCMHEP is educating doctors and patients about the risks accompanying...

The first step was to educate healthcare professionals. They developed a course of Continuing Medical Education (CME) for nurses and doctors to discuss the newest research and best practices about reducing elective deliveries (Shriver, 2013).
The two other stakeholders discussed here are BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina (BCBSSC) and South Carolina Hospital Association.

BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina (BCBSSC)

In July 2011, BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina (BCBSSC), in partnership with South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and many other organizations, made an effort to reduce EEDs, which is known as the Birth Outcomes Initiative (BOI). The focus of BOI was to achieve goals like:

Termination of elective induction without medical indications prior to 39 weeks.

Reducing health differences among new-borns and promoting breastfeeding.

Reduction of average length of stay at NICUs.

Making 17P accessible to all pregnant women at-risk.

Employing a universal screening and referral tool (SBIRT), that will screen pregnant women for tobacco use, domestic violence, depression and substance abuse (BCBSSC, 2014).

South Carolina Hospital Association

South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (SCDHHS) worked diligently with the South Carolina Hospital Association (SCHA) in the process of procuring letters from the hospitals, which agreed to terminate the practice of early deliveries. Additionally, Birth Outcomes Initiative (BOI) in collaboration with SCHA, patients, other state agencies, suppliers and insurers, is working to achieve goals like:

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