Feb. 22—The national rate of early elective deliveries dropped for the second year, according to data reported from 2010 to 2012, in an annual hospital survey from The Leapfrog Group, Washington, D.C., a not-for-profit employer-driven hospital quality watchdog group.

In 2012, 46 percent of the 773 reporting hospitals met Leapfrog’s early elective deliveries target rate of less than 5 percent, an increase from 39 percent in 2011. The data shows 75 percent of hospitals improved this year, and the national average dropped from 14.0 percent to 11.2 percent, according to Leapfrog.

Early elective deliveries—performing elective inductions or cesarean procedures prior to 39 completed weeks’ gestation without medical necessity—can be dangerous, resulting in neonatal ICU admissions, increased length of stay, and higher costs to patients and payers, the group says.

Publication Date: Friday, February 22, 2013