Sometimes it can be difficult to get the actual numbers surrounding childbirth. How much will it really cost? What is the cesarean rate at a specific hospital? What about the Vaginal Birth After Cesarean (VBAC) rate?
Part of my responsibilities as a
Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator is to share industry or business
information like this.
Below are three tables with financial cost and cesarean statistics about Ohio hospitals that are within a 50 mile drive of Athens. These tables do not include Camden Clark Medical Center in Parkersburg, WV or Pleasant Valley Hospital in Point Pleasant, WV. Additionally, they do not include planned homebirth with midwifery assistance, which is also available in our region and about which Lamaze is supportive.
I gathered this
data from the Ohio Department of Health's web site, www.odh.ohio.gov. Some of the information was fairly easy to find, such as the cesarean rate for first time moms with no complications. The rest of the information required more digging in the "data warehouse" and "vital statistics" databases. The numbers do not perfectly match up between these various charts because the charts come from different databases.
Lastly, here is information about the U.S. nationally.
2010 Cesarean Section Rates for Mothers
Who Had their First Baby with no Complications
Hospital 2009 Rate 2010 Rate 2010 Numbers
Marietta Memorial Hospital 27.7%
19.4% 97 out of 499
Holzer Medical Center 25.0% 20.9% 63 out of 301
Fairfield Medical Center 22.9% 81 out of 354O'Bleness Memorial Hospital 22.6% 27.1% 57 out of 210
Ohio Average 27.4% 27.1% 12,699 out of 46,446
Adena Regional Medical Center 31.6% 137 out of 434
The US Department of Health and Human Services recommends an overall cesarean rate of no greater than 15%. (Please note that he above rates are not an overall cesarean rate.) The World Health Organization suggests a cesarean rate of between 5 – 15% to be the healthiest for both mothers and babies. In 2009, the most recent year for which there is national information available, the overall cesarean rate was 33%, first and later births combined. (National Center for Health Statistics)
To access this data yourself, or search for data for other hospitals in Ohio, go to the Ohio Department of Health website at www.odh.ohio.gov. On the home page, click on “Ohio Hospital Compare”, and follow the easy instructions. Information about cesareans and related issues is also related to other search topics such as “Infection”, “Surgical Care”, and “Patient Safety”.
Vaginal Birth After Cesarean (VBAC) Rates, 2008
| Hospital | Vaginal, # | Vaginal, % | VBAC, # | VBAC, % | Cesarean, # | Cesarean, % |
| Adena Regional Medical Center | 646 | 67.4% | 6 | 7.5% | 312 | 32.6% |
| Fairfield Medical Center | 1,238 | 70.9% | 10 | 4.4% | 507 | 29.1% |
| Genesis Healthcare – Bethesda | 705 | 63.0% | 8 | 4.7% | 414 | 37.0% |
| Holzer Medical Center | 264 |
70.8% |
2 |
7.1% |
109 |
29.2% |
| Marietta Memorial Hospital | 392 | 70.5% | 4 |
8.0% | 164 | 29.5% |
| O'Bleness Memorial Hospital | 337 | 65.1% | 3 |
3.7% | 181 | 34.9% |
| STATE OF OHIO |
69.4% |
11.5% |
30.6% |
This table is of Ohio hospitals within a 50 mile radius of Athens, Ohio, and their vaginal birth vs. cesarean surgery birth rates. The VBAC numbers are also folded into the larger vaginal birth rates.
Financial Costs for Vaginal and Cesarean Surgery Delivery, 2009
| Hospital | Cesareans, Average Cost | Vaginal Deliveries, Average Cost | Baby, Average Cost | Average Cost, Mom & Baby, Vaginal Delivery | Average Cost, Mom & Baby, Cesarean Delivery |
| Adena Regional Medical Center | $8,285 | $4,749 | $3,013 | $7,762 | $11,298 |
| Fairfield Medical Center | $10,256 | $5,589 | $1,458 | $7,047 | $11,714 |
| Genesis Healthcare – Bethesda | $10,722 | $7,930 | $4,236 | $12,166 | $14,958 |
| Holzer Medical Center | $8,417 | $6,685 | $2,306 | $8,991 | $10,723 |
| Marietta Memorial Hospital | $10,986 | $8,323 | $2,178 | $10,501 | $13,164 |
| O'Bleness Memorial Hospital | $10,317 | $5,335 | $1,729 | $7,064 | $12,046 |
Please note that the average financial cost of care for mothers is broken out by type of delivery, but the average financial cost of care for the baby is not. The cost of care for babies born via cesarean surgery might be higher than the average listed here due to conditions that might have necessitated the cesarean or by the cesarean operation itself. The cost of care for babies born vaginally might be lower than the average costs listed here.
Also note that there may be other financial costs, such as lost time at work by the mother and/or birth partner due to a longer recuperation period required after cesarean surgery.
Of course, there are other costs as well that are not financial in nature.
This page was update Aug., 2011.