Abington-Jefferson & Newborn Special Care Associates

Where should I deliver my baby? 

This is a difficult question and the answer depends on many individual factors.  However, for medical outcome, it seems that the highest-risk newborn fares best when they are born not only at a hospital with a level III NICU, but also one with a high volume. 

For Maternity Care & High Risk Deliveries, Abington-Jefferson Health is the highest rated in our region.  - The Leapfrog Group       Compare Maternity Hospitals [click here]

The Leapfrog Group (http://www.leapfroggroup.org/about) is a national nonprofit organization driving a movement for giant leaps forward in the quality and safety of American health care. One of the first steps one can make is to ask how your hospital has performed in Maternity Care.  The following are Leapfrog's 5 key areas of Maternity Care Quality:

Leapfrog Report on High Risk Deliveries.  [click here for link]

• Only 1 out of 4 hospitals in the US fully meet the Leapfrog standard. 

• Abington-Jefferson is the only such hospital in Montgomery & Bucks County.

According to Jensen and Lorch from the University of Pennsylvania and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, choice of delivery hospital has a significant impact on outcome. 

Erik Jensen, Scott Lorch. “Effects of a Birth Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Level and Annual Volume of Very Low-Birth-Weight Infant Deliveries on Morbidity and Mortality. JAMA Pediatrics. 169(8);e151906.  August 3, 2015.

You have many options.

Most parents hope that their baby will not need special help.  That's our hope too.  Should the need arise, however, Abington-Jefferson and Newborn Special Care Associates are among the most experienced newborn healthcare team in our region.