Winchester Medical Center Named a 2024 Best Hospital for Maternity Care by U.S. News & World Report

U.S. News & World Report has named Winchester Medical Center (WMC) as a 2024 High Performing hospital for Maternity Care (Uncomplicated Pregnancy). This is the highest award a hospital can earn for U.S. News’ Best Hospitals for Maternity Care.

Best Hospitals for Maternity Care is an annual evaluation designed to assist expectant parents, in consultation with their prenatal care team, in making informed decisions about where to receive maternity care that best meets their family’s needs.

WMC earned a High Performing designation in recognition of maternity care as measured by several factors, including:

• Minimizing early scheduled deliveries
• Minimizing avoidable C-sections
• Minimizing newborn complications
• Fostering breastfeeding during the hospital stay at a rate exceeding the average in the Southern U.S.
• Routinely offering to support vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC)
• Minimizing episiotomy rates
• Meeting criteria for recognition as Birthing-Friendly (focused on patient safety practices to optimize maternal outcomes)
• Tracking race and ethnicity-specific performance on all performance measures

“I am extremely proud of the multidisciplinary team of providers and staff who care for our tiniest patients, mothers and families,” said Winchester Medical Center President, Tonya Smith. “From the Labor & Delivery unit to our Mother-Baby unit and NICU, our team of caregivers is dedicated to delivering the best care possible for mothers and their babies.”

U.S. News evaluated hospitals from across the nation that provide labor and delivery services and submitted detailed data to the publication for analysis; fewer than half – 46% – of all hospitals that offer maternity care and were evaluated in the survey received a High Performing designation. Winchester Medical Center is one of only 10 hospitals in Virginia to be recognized as High Performing in Maternity Care (uncomplicated pregnancy). WMC is the only hospital in the region encompassing the Northern Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia to receive this recognition.

“Hospitals that receive a High Performing designation as part of Best Hospitals for Maternity Care meet a high standard in caring for parents with uncomplicated pregnancies,” said Jennifer Winston, health data scientist at U.S. News. “These hospitals have C-section rates that are 26% lower, and newborn complication rates that are 37% lower than unrecognized hospitals. Parents-to-be can research their local hospitals’ performance metrics for free at health.usnews.com to help them choose where to have their baby.”

The U.S. News Best Hospitals for Maternity Care methodology is based entirely on objective measures of quality, such as C-section rates in 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.

WMC also received recognition for consistently offering childbirth education classes, having private rooms (Labor & Delivery and Mother-Baby units), allowing partners to stay overnight post-delivery, allowing midwives to attend births, having a neonatal intensive care unit (the region’s only Level III NICU), offering perinatal and postpartum depression screening and services, and offering breastfeeding and lactation consultant services in the hospital.

For more information about U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals for Maternity Care, visit Best Hospitals for Maternity Care.