The Birth Survey: Nationwide Launch

Laura Gilkey of Kangaroo Promotions is proud to serve as Florida Coordinating Ambassador for The Birth Survey: The Transparency in Maternity Care Project.
The Coalition for Improving Maternity Services (CIMS) has developed The Birth Survey: The Transparency in Maternity Care Project for families to share information, learn about the choices and birth experiences of others, and view data on hospital and birth center intervention rates and practices. It is also designed to help providers and facilities improve the quality and transparency of their care.
The members of CIMS are individuals and organizations with concern for the care and well-being of mothers, babies, and families. Their mission is to promote mother-friendly care: a model of maternity care that will improve birth outcomes and substantially reduce costs.
At the heart of The Transparency Project is an on-going online consumer survey that asks women who have birthed babies within the past three years to provide feedback about their birth experience with a particular doctor or midwife and within a specific birth environment. Paired with this experiential data (where available) are official statistics from state departments of health listing obstetrical intervention rates at the facility level. Initial data will be available beginning in Fall 2008.
The Birth Survey was created as a mechanism for sharing and accessing information about maternity care practices in each community.
The Birth Survey will be made available to expectant parents in the contiguous United States on August 15, 2008. At that time, women will be invited to log in to the site and participate in the confidential survey, thus providing the results that will serve, along with the data provided by the State Departments of Health, as a resource for expectant parents in communities nationwide.