How Philadelphia escaped disaster in the face of a dozen shuttered maternity wards


A large number of hospital closures pushed the remaining obstetrics chiefs to work together to maintain safe and accessible maternity care, especially for low-income and English as a second language community members. The consortium shared best practices and established easily transferrable common electronic medical records. Hospitals triaged patients by needs and transferred them if needed, rather than prioritizing income generation and competition. Doctors practiced a “laborist” model where they were assigned to be on the labor and delivery floor rather than follow a particular caseload of patients.

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