A Birth Center Primer for Hospital Leaders:

Achieving Seamless Collaboration and Advancing Equity Through Community-Based Care

A FREE 6-part Learning Series to support hospitals and health systems to successfully engage with the freestanding birth center model.

This virtual series is designed to help hospital leaders develop a strategy to strengthen their relationships with freestanding birth centers in their communities, or to participate in establishing a center.

This Learning Series unlocks critical concepts and tools from the Hospital Guide to Integrating the Freestanding Birth Center Model. Each of the six learning sessions highlights the work of experts who have led integration efforts across the country.

This series is hosted by Primary Maternity Care (PMC) and the California Quality Collaborative (a program of the Purchaser Business Group on Health).

Learning Series Topics

The Learning Series ran from September - November 2023. Recordings and session materials are available and free CME and CNE credits are available for those who complete the learning activities by 12/31/2023.

  • Assessing Readiness and Centering Equity in Your Hospital’s Birth Center Strategy 

  • Developing Eligibility Criteria and Collaborative Care Guidelines

  • Designing Transport Workflows and Maximizing Collaboration Across Facilities

  • Beyond Transfer: Exploring Financial, Programmatic, and Administrative Integration Between Birth Centers and Hospitals

  • Preventing and Learning From Sentinel Events

  • Planning and Conducting Effective Emergency Drills for Community Birth

Access Recordings and Session Materials

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Birth centers have emerged as a vital part of the solution to the growing challenges and inequities of our maternal health care system. Integrating birth center care provides a cohesive and convenient experience for the patient, avoids duplication of services and enables seamless care transitions between facilities or levels of care.

    Uniquely tailored to address the distinct needs and priorities of hospital leaders, this Learning Series will equip you with the knowledge and tools essential for optimizing collaboration with birth centers.

  • Sessions will be held every two weeks from September to November. Most sessions are 60 minutes (with the exception of the first 90 minute session) and include 20 minutes of education led by PMC followed by 40 minutes of a facilitated panel discussion with Q&A among speakers with experience implementing the concepts reviewed. 

  • Leaders from hospitals, clinics, and health systems interested in strengthening or establishing a partnership with a birth center or building a new one, including OB chiefs, nursing leads, administrative OBGYN service line directors, neonatology and NICU clinicians, OB, MFM, and midwife clinicians, quality team, population health strategy, ER physicians and nurses.

    We encourage multiple team members from each facility to register and attend those sessions most relevant to their roles and responsibilities.

  • This learning series aims to fill a gap in resources and education for hospitals about collaborating with freestanding birth centers. Birth center leaders' perspectives are very welcome and valued, though content and discussion will be geared towards hospital providers and leaders.

  • Yes, for participation and completion* of the learning series there will be 6.5 CE credits offered through The Weitzman Institute.

    In support of improving patient care, Moses/Weitzman Health System Inc. and its Weitzman Institute is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credential Center (ANCC) to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.

    Available credit:

    6.50 AAPA Category I CME

    6.50 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™

    6.50 ANCC

    6.50 Participation Hour(s)

    *Information on how to claim CE credits will be detailed for all learning series participants.

  • You do not need to be collaborating with a local birth center to participate. Participating in this Learning Series will help you find and create opportunities to build strong  relationships with birth centers. If you already have a relationship with a freestanding  birth center in your community, we recommend letting them know you are participating in this learning series. 

  • The Learning Series focuses on the unique needs and challenges hospitals face when collaborating with freestanding birth centers. Session discussions and content, however, are relevant to supporting and enhancing outcomes and patient experience for all births, including those taking place in the home or hospital.

  • Early next year, Primary Maternity Care will host a Step Up Together Action Collaborative of interdisciplinary teams from hospitals and birth centers for Learning Series participants! You will receive group education and coaching from maternity care experts to conduct a full transfer drill that begins in a birth center, uses emergency transport, and ends in the operating room or NICU. Contact Alexa Dougherty for more info.