Best Maternity Care Hospitals In CA In 2023: 63 Make The Grade

CALIFORNIA — 63 hospitals in California made the grade in a new ranking of the Best Hospitals for Maternity Care for 2023-24 released Tuesday by U.S. News & World Report.

The ranking of 680 hospitals nationwide is a guide for parents making one of the most important decisions of their lives — where their baby will be born. Each hospital participating in the U.S. News survey received a scorecard describing their performance on a checklist of items parents look for when choosing where to have their baby.

Jennifer Winston, a health data scientist for U.S. News, said the top hospitals in the survey are those with a “high performing” designation for care given to patients with uncomplicated pregnancies. These hospitals had Cesarean Section rates of 26 percent or lower and newborn complication rates of 37 percent or lower, Winston explained in a news release.

Of the 89 California hospitals that participated in the U.S. News maternity services survey, the following received the high performing designation:

• Alta Bates Summit Medical Center-Berkeley, High Performing
• Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, High Performing
• Bakersfield Memorial Hospital, High Performing
• California Pacific Medical Center-Van Ness Campus, High Performing
• Community Memorial Hospital-Ventura, High Performing
• Corona Regional Medical Center, High Performing
• Eden Medical Center, High Performing
• El Camino Health-Mountain View, High Performing
• Enloe Medical Center, High Performing
• John Muir Health-Walnut Creek Medical Center, High Performing
• Kaiser Permanente Anaheim and Irvine Medical Centers, High Performing
• Kaiser Permanente Baldwin Park Medical Center, High Performing
• Kaiser Permanente Downey Medical Center, High Performing
• Kaiser Permanente Fontana and Ontario Medical Centers, High Performing
• Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center, High Performing
• Kaiser Permanente Panorama City Medical Center, High Performing
• Kaiser Permanente Riverside Medical Center, High Performing
• Kaiser Permanente San Diego Zion and San Diego Medical Center, High Performing
• Kaiser Permanente South Bay Medical Center, High Performing
• Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center, High Performing
• Kaiser Permanente Woodland Hills Medical Center, High Performing
• Loma Linda University Children's Hospital, High Performing
• Loma Linda University Medical Center-Murrieta, High Performing
• Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford, High Performing
• Memorial Medical Center-Modesto, High Performing
• MemorialCare Miller Children's and Women's Hospital Long Beach, High Performing
• MemorialCare Orange Coast Medical Center, High Performing
• Methodist Hospital of Sacramento, High Performing
• Mills-Peninsula Health Services-Burlingame, High Performing
• NorthBay Medical Center, High Performing
• Palomar Medical Center Escondido, High Performing
• PIH Health Hospital-Whittier, High Performing
• Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center, High Performing
• Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center Torrance, High Performing
• Providence Mission Hospital-Mission Viejo and Laguna Beach, High Performing
• Providence Saint John's Health Center, High Performing
• Providence St. Joseph Hospital-Orange, High Performing
• Providence St. Jude Medical Center, High Performing
• Redlands Community Hospital, High Performing
• Riverside University Health System-Medical Center, High Performing
• Salinas Valley Health Medical Center, High Performing
• Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, High Performing
• Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, High Performing
• Scripps Memorial Hospital-Encinitas, High Performing
• Scripps Mercy Hospital, High Performing
• Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center, High Performing
• Sharp Grossmont Hospital, High Performing
• Southwest Healthcare System-Murrieta, High Performing
• St. Joseph Hospital-Eureka, High Performing
• St. Mary Medical Center-Apple Valley, High Performing
• Stanford Health Care Tri-Valley, High Performing
• Sutter Coast Hospital, High Performing
• Sutter Davis Hospital, High Performing
• Sutter Delta Medical Center, High Performing
• Sutter Lakeside Hospital, High Performing
• Sutter Medical Center, High Performing
• Sutter Roseville Medical Center, High Performing
• Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital, High Performing
• Tri-City Medical Center, High Performing
• UC San Diego Health-La Jolla and Hillcrest Hospitals, High Performing
• UCI Medical Center, High Performing
• UCLA Medical Center, High Performing
• UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center, High Performing

New to the rankings this year is the inaugural “Maternity Care Access Hospitals” list, which highlights 73 hospitals providing services in what otherwise would be maternity care deserts that have “left millions of people without local access to maternity care” in some parts of the country, Winston said.

In California, Maternity Care Access Hospitals are:

• Memorial Hospital Los Banos
• Enloe Medical Center
• Sutter Lakeside Hospital

Other California hospitals that completed the U.S. News survey, but did not rank as “high performing” were:

• Adventist Health Glendale, Participated in maternity services survey -Not High Performing
• Adventist Health-White Memorial, Participated in maternity services survey -Not High Performing
• Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Participated in maternity services survey -Not High Performing
• Eisenhower Medical Center, Participated in maternity services survey -Not High Performing
• Emanate Health Queen of The Valley Hospital, Participated in maternity services survey -Not High Performing
• Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, Participated in maternity services survey -Not High Performing
• Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, Participated in maternity services survey -Not High Performing
• Huntington Hospital, Participated in maternity services survey -Not High Performing
• Kaiser Permanente Moreno Valley Medical Centerm Participated in maternity services survey -Not High Performing
• Memorial Hospital Los Banos, Participated in maternity services survey -Not High Performing
• MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center, Participated in maternity services survey -Not High Performing
• Natividad Medical Center, Participated in maternity services survey -Not High Performing
• Petaluma Valley Hospital, Participated in maternity services survey -Not High Performing
• PIH Health Good Samaritan Hospital, Participated in maternity services survey -Not High Performing
• Providence Holy Cross Medical Center, Participated in maternity services survey -Not High Performing
• Queen of the Valley Medical Center, Participated in maternity services survey -Not High Performing
• Scripps La Jolla Hospitals, Participated in maternity services survey -Not High Performing
• Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women and Newborns, Participated in maternity services survey -Not High Performing
• Sutter Amador Hospital, Participated in maternity services survey -Not High Performing
• Sutter Maternity and Surgery Center of Santa Cruz, Participated in maternity services survey -Not High Performing
• Sutter Tracy Community Hospital, Participated in maternity services survey -Not High Performing
• Torrance Memorial Medical Center, Participated in maternity services survey -Not High Performing
• UC Davis Medical Center, Participated in maternity services survey -Not High Performing
• UCSF Health-UCSF Medical Center, Participated in maternity services survey -Not High Performing
• USC Arcadia Hospital, Participated in maternity services survey -Not High Performing
• USC Verdugo Hills Hospital, Participated in maternity services survey -Not High Performing

The hospitals are ranked on objective measures of quality. Including C-section rate, lower-risk pregnancies, newborn complication rates, exclusive breast milk feeding rates, early elective delivery rates, birthing-friendly practices and transparency on racial/ethnic disparities, among other measures. Read more about the methodology.