How do Birth Centers Contain Costs?
- By retaining autonomy (control) over birth center operations and programs regardless of ownership (some hospitals own freestanding birth centers).
- By providing "high touch"
rather than "high tech" care, birth centers minimize the overuse of technology. - By providing a program of primary care that emphasizes education, wellness, prevention, self-help and self-reliance in family health maintenance.
- By using staff efficiently; staff are only in-house when a mother is in-house. Since birth centers do not compete with emergency services or hospital acute care, levels of staff are used efficiently and appropriately.
- By sharing responsibility with the childbearing family for health and prevention of illness.
- By using existing community services when available (instead of creating costly duplications) for transport services, social services, medical consultation, laboratories, etc.
- By using established policies and procedures for the screening and transfer of women with problems to acute care services.
- By using low-cost construction that meets safety codes.
The Body in Labor
"It is wise to remember that the human body is as near a perfect machine as we will ever see and is well prepared to manage the normal process of labor."
-Edith B. Wonnell, CNM, MS