These Are The Best Maternity Care Hospitals In MA: Report

MASSACHUSETTS — Three hospitals in Massachusetts made the top grade in a new ranking of the Best Hospitals for Maternity Care for 2023-24 released Tuesday by U.S. News & World Report.

The ranking of 680 hospitals nationwide is a guide for parents making one of the most important decisions of their lives — where their baby will be born. Each hospital participating in the U.S. News survey received a scorecard describing their performance on a checklist of items parents look for when choosing where to have their baby.

Jennifer Winston, a health data scientist for U.S. News, said the top hospitals in the survey are those with a "high performing" designation for care given to patients with uncomplicated pregnancies. These hospitals had Cesarean Section rates of 26 percent or lower and newborn complication rates of 37 percent or lower, Winston explained in a news release.

Of the nine Massachusetts hospitals that participated in the U.S. News maternity services survey, the following received the high-performing designation:

Massachusetts General Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital and UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester.

Massachusetts General Hospital is on the Best Hospitals Honor Roll. It is nationally ranked in 13 adult and four pediatric specialties and rated high-performing in 21 adult procedures and conditions. It is a general medical and surgical facility.

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is nationally ranked in four adult specialties and rated high performing in four adult specialties and 16 procedures and conditions.

New to the rankings this year is the inaugural "Maternity Care Access Hospitals" list, which highlights 73 hospitals providing services in what otherwise would be maternity care deserts that have "left millions of people without local access to maternity care" in some parts of the country, Winston said.

In Massachusetts, Maternity Care Access Hospitals are Southcoast Hospitals of Fall River, New Bedford and Wareham.

Other Massachusetts hospitals that completed the U.S. News survey, but did not rank as "high performing" were Brigham and Women's Hospital, Tufts Medical Center, Newton-Wellesley Hospital, Salem Hospital, Milford Regional Medical Center and Southcoast Hospitals.

The hospitals are ranked on objective measures of quality. Including C-section rate, lower-risk pregnancies, newborn complication rates, exclusive breast milk feeding rates, early elective delivery rates, birthing-friendly practices and transparency on racial/ethnic disparities, among other measures. Read more about the methodology.