Lowering C-Section Rates in California
The California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative, a public-private partnership aimed at improving the state's maternal health care and outcomes, has taken a three-pronged approach to curb how frequently cesareans occur among "low-risk" births.
In 2012, before efforts to reduce unnecessary cesareans ramped up in the state, data culled from the collaborative shows low-risk C-section rates ranged from 13% to 83.3% in California hospitals, with a statewide average of 27.8%.
In 2017, California's low-risk C-section rate was 24.4%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, while officials said 122 of the state's maternity care hospitals saw rates at or below 23.9%. Across the U.S., the low-risk C-section rate was 25.9% last year and 24% in California, according to provisional CDC data.
