Four local hospitals have met or surpassed a federal goal of reducing unnecessary Caesarean births.
That accomplishment has placed them on Smart Care California's C-section honor roll.
The hospitals are Scripps Mercy, Scripps Encinitas, Tri-City Medical Center and Sharp Grossmont.
The c-section rate in the U.S. has increased dramatically over the last decade. Nationwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 32 percent of babies are born by C-section.
The federal government has set a goal of reducing C-section rates for low-risk, first-births to 23.9 percent.
Sharp Grossmont's rate stands at 21 percent. Sharp OBGYN Kevin Fulford says their practice now is to give women more time for their labor to progress.
“To ensure that we have adequate contractions, that we have done our adequate other modalities, in order to prove that we’ve done everything we possibly can, to help this woman have a normal vaginal delivery," he explained.
C-sections can be lifesaving in certain instances. But they also pose risks for both mothers and babies.
