CMS will roll out a new "birthing-friendly" designation for hospitals in fall 2023 as part of a larger effort to improve maternal health outcomes, the agency said April 13.
The publicly reported quality designation will initially be based on the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting Program's maternal morbidity structural measure. The reporting period for this measure opened in October 2021, and hospitals are slated to submit data for the first time in May.
CMS will post hospitals' data for October to December 2021 this fall and publish a list of hospitals receiving the designation in fall 2023.
The agency said it intends to expand the criteria for the birthing-friendly designation in the future.
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