Pre-term deliveries targeted as hospitals sign pledge for treating Medicaid moms
Officials at all but one of the 43 South Carolina hospitals that deliver babies signed a pledge to stop elective deliveries before 39 weeks for mothers-to-be on Medicaid.
The pledge serves a dual purpose: It cuts costs in the state Medicaid agency's tight budget while also aiming to reduce the number of low-birth-weight babies. The move could save taxpayers $8 million annually, the state Health and Human Services Department announced Thursday.
Eliminating early elective deliveries, generally performed for convenience, will save taxpayers more than $1 million a year in delivery costs and an additional $7 million through a reduction in hospitalizations for babies.
The pledge is voluntary and hospitals that break it will not be punished, Health and Human Services spokesman Bryan Kost said in an email. Each hospital involved in the pledge has designated two staffers to oversee it.
"Peer pressure is an enormous incentive ... and so is the more general disincentive about potential reductions" that could affect hospitals in the future, Kost said in the email. "Some have suggested we just don't pay for these deliveries going forward, but we will wait to see what behavior change happens first."
About 13 percent of all South Carolina births are early elective deliveries, which can lead to low birth weights and other lifelong medical complications. The state now ranks 47th nationally in percentage of pre-term births.
In a statement, S.C. Health and Human Services Director Tony Keck called the pledge a "win for families and taxpayers" that would "improve the health and well-being of babies born in South Carolina."
The S.C. Hospital Association, S.C. Obstetrical and Gynecological Society and the S.C. March of Dimes all supported the so-called Birth Outcomes Initiative.
The initiative also aims to increase patient access to a low-cost progesterone treatment shown to reduce pre-term births in some women; screen for substance abuse, depression and domestic violence among pregnant women; and identify health disparities among minorities.
