Rapides Women’s and Children’s Hospital (RWCH) has achieved Louisiana Birth Ready+ Designation from the Louisiana Department of Health and the Louisiana Perinatal Quality Collaborative for the second year in a row. RWCH is the only Central Louisiana hospital to receive the highest-level designation.
Louisiana Perinatal Quality Collaborative, which is a program within the Office of Public Health’s Bureau of Family Health, began the Louisiana Birth Ready Designation in 2021. Hospitals receive this honor through a rigorous application and review process by the LaPQC Birth Ready Designation committee. Applications are reviewed and renewed annually.
“We are proud to receive this highest honor for the second consecutive year,” said Benjamin Price, MSN, RN, NE-BC, Administrative Director of Rapides Women’s and Children’s Hospital. “It is a tribute to the dedication and hard work from everyone involved in the prenatal through birthing process. There is nothing more important to us than helping moms safely deliver healthy babies.”
Birth Ready Designation is earned by birthing hospitals that meet standards across five key areas, including the implementation of policies and procedures to enhance recognition and response to clinical causes of severe maternal morbidity and promoting patient partnership. Hospitals that have achieved the Louisiana Birth Ready+ Designation have exceeded these requirements and reached a higher level of compliance.
Hospitals that receive this designation have demonstrated significant efforts to implement evidence-based practices that improve care. Rapides Women’s and Children’s Hospital has been collaborating with the LaPQC for years to improve outcomes for mothers and newborns throughout Central Louisiana and across the state.
“Birthing hospitals across Louisiana are working diligently to ensure safe and patient-centered care for Louisiana families,” said Dr. Veronica Gillispie-Bell, medical director of the LaPQC. “Improving care for mothers in Louisiana is one of the Department's top priorities. Birthing hospitals achieving designation have demonstrated achievement in reaching that goal.”