HARRISBURG, PA – The VIA Maternity Center at Doylestown Hospital is a recipient of the Pennsylvania Perinatal Quality Collaborative (PA PQC) inaugural Designations Awards which were presented at its annual conference in Harrisburg on May 22, 2024.
Designation signifies the hospital has established multidisciplinary teams that have demonstrated improvements in maternal and newborn care by sharing best practices and data in their hospital and community.
Hospitals had the opportunity to earn a Designation for each 2023-24 PA PQC initiative that they actively participated in, including: Immediate Postpartum Long-Acting Reversible Contraception (IPLARC), substance use disorders (SUD), and substance exposed newborn (SEN).
“This is a great achievement,” said Carol Chwal, Director of Maternal and Child Services at Doylestown Health, “I’m excited that the VIA Maternity Center at Doylestown Hospital and our commitment to provide the highest quality care to mothers and newborns is being recognized by the PAPQC.”
The VIA Maternity Center at Doylestown Hospital earned bronze designations to recognize its work in the issue areas of SUD and SEN. A bronze designation signifies the hospital met the required quality improvement submission criteria for at least 2 of the 4 quarters.
Designation awards and levels are based on meeting quality improvement milestone criteria over a 12-month period, starting from April 2023 through March 2024.
In Pennsylvania, perinatal health issues persist, including racial and ethnic disparities in maternal and neonatal outcomes, higher than average maternal sepsis rates, and drug overdose deaths during pregnancy and postpartum. The PA PQC addresses these challenges through various initiatives, including Maternal Opioid Use Disorder, Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome, Maternal Sepsis, and Safe Sleep. Through collaborative efforts, the PA PQC aims to improve maternal and neonatal health outcomes across the state.
The PA PQC is administered by the Jewish Healthcare Foundation and WHAMglobal, and it is affiliated with the Northeast PQC (NEPaPQC).
About Doylestown Health's VIA Maternity Center
Doylestown Health's VIA Maternity Center is rated among the best in the region for maternity care with services available for every stage of pregnancy through the birth experience. The VIA Maternity Center features a 32-bed maternity unit that includes 9 labor, delivery & recovery rooms, 22 private post-partum rooms, and a Level II Intensive Care Nursery staffed by neontologists from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
About Doylestown Health
Doylestown Health is a comprehensive healthcare system of inpatient, outpatient, and wellness education services connected to meet the health needs of the local and regional community. The flagship of Doylestown Health is Doylestown Hospital, a not-for-profit, community teaching hospital with 242 beds and a medical staff of more than 600 providers who deliver the highest quality care in over 50 specialties. Renowned locally, regionally, and nationally, Doylestown Hospital provides superior healthcare and offers advanced surgical procedures, innovative medical treatments, and comprehensive specialty services. Now in its 100th year of service in central Bucks County, Doylestown Hospital is proud to educate and train the next generation of physicians through its family medicine residency program. Consistently ranked among the best hospitals in Pennsylvania and distinguished in both infection prevention and patient experience, Doylestown Hospital is the only hospital in Pennsylvania to achieve 17 consecutive ‘A’ grades for patient safety from Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade. Learn more at doylestownhealth.org.
