We are a volunteer group dedicated to ensuring public access to quality of care information specifically related to maternity care providers and institutions. It is our intention to extend the current social trend toward transparency in health care into the virtually overlooked maternity care arena.

The Birth Survey is structured around the Coalition for Improving Maternity Services (CIMS) evidence-based 10 Steps to Mother-Friendly Care and other quality of care indicators. The creation of The Birth Survey has been inspired by Childbirth Connection's Listening to Mothers Survey (Harris Interactive, October 2002) and the A-CAHPS (Ambulatory Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) program and surveys.

Our goal is to give women a mechanism that can be used to share information about maternity care practices in their community while at the same time providing practitioners and institutions feedback for quality of care improvement efforts.
At the heart of the project is an on-going, online consumer survey, The Birth Survey, that asks women to provide feedback about their birth experience with a particular doctor or midwife and within a specific birth environment. Responses will be made available online to other women in their community who are deciding where and with whom to birth. Paired with this experiential data will be official statistics from state departments of health listing obstetrical intervention rates at the facility level.

FOUR PRIMARY OBJECTIVES
Objective 1
Annually obtain maternity care intervention rates on an institutional level for all fifty states.
Objective 2
Collect feedback about women’s birth experiences using an online, ongoing survey, The Birth Survey.
Objective 3
Present official hospital intervention rates, results of The Birth Survey, and information about the MFCI in an on-line format.
Objective 4
Increase public awareness of differences among maternity care providers and facilities and increase recognition of the MFCI as the gold standard for maternity care.

VISION
We are dedicated to improving maternity care for all women. We will do this by 1) creating a higher level of transparency in maternity care so that women will be better able to make informed decisions about where and with whom to birth and 2) providing practitioners and hospitals with information that will aid in evaluating and improving quality of care.

BRINGING TRANSPARENCY TO MATERNITY CARE
In the US, it is nearly impossible to access information about the quality of an individual health care provider or institution.The 2001 Institute of Medicine report, Crossing the Quality Chasm, underscores transparency as one of ten key steps necessary to overall health care system improvement. As national quality improvement initiatives continue to grow, maternity care must be included in this movement. The US spends more on maternity services than any other country in the world, yet we have the highest rates of infant death of all developed nations .1 The US also has one of the lowest vaginal birth rates in the world even though cesarean section carries greater risks to mother and baby. Despite emphasis on evidence-based medicine, cost-containment, and patient safety, the overuse of medical technology continues to rise without concomitant improvements in maternal or infant outcomes. Indeed, studies show that the inappropriate imposition of procedures, drugs, tests, and restrictions increase maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality. Although institutes, universities, and foundations are engaging in research or developing projects to increase health care transparency, currently, no significant consumer-led national effort is underway to share health care or maternity care information. A mechanism to share, systematically track, and retrieve up-to-date information about the quality of care received would equip consumers with the information necessary to make informed decisions and enable individuals to play a larger role in determining their care.

If you are a mother looking for the real survey where you can give feedback about your doctor, midwife, hospital, birth center or home birth service please click . This will take you back to the home page. Once on the home page click "take our survey" to start the real survey.