FAQs

  • A birth center is a home-like place where midwives provide prenatal, birth, and postpartum care.

    Birth centers are freestanding and not in hospitals. Community birth centers provide safe, culturally-reverent, midwifery-led healthcare for all. (1)

  • Research shows that 80% of people giving birth in the United States could safely give birth in a birth center. (2)

    Birth centers are a safe choice for low risk pregnancy and an essential part of an integrated health system.

  • Birth centers are committed to safety, accountability and best practice. Adverse outcomes are avoided by ongoing risk assessment and adherence to eligibility criteria, as well as the use of evidence-based protocols for comprehensive perinatal care and strong transfer partnerships.

    Clients requiring interventions not appropriate in a birth center are transferred to the appropriate level of care in a timely manner. (2)

  • Community birth centers, especially those led by Black, Indigenous, people of color provide safe, culturally-relevant care to meet the needs of communities of color facing high maternal and infant mortality rates and perinatal clinic and hospital closures nationwide.

    Community birth centers such as those in the BCE Network are designed to honor cultural and spiritual traditions, reflect stories and dreams, and heal the frustrations and traumas of people and families who are not usually centered in the design of healthcare spaces. (1)

  • Birth centers can improve public health outcomes. Birth center care improves birth outcomes, increases satisfaction; and, if it is culturally responsive, can make a life or death difference for people of color by reducing disparities in care. A 2022 study suggests that culturally affirming care provided by Black, Indigenous, people of color led birth centers benefits all birthing people – regardless of race and can be protective for Black birthing people. (11)

    The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid study also found that birth center participants achieved better birth outcomes at a 21% lower overall cost. (9)

  • Freestanding birth centers are partners in integrated health care systems.

    The Birth Settings in America report states that “integration creates a single, coordinated, high-functioning system and is an important driver of safety,” and that the integration of midwifery into a state’s maternal care system can improve maternal and newborn health outcomes. (6)

  • Most major private insurance companies contract with birth centers.(7) Medicaid is required to cover birth center care in states that license birth centers (8).

    The state of Michigan is 1 of only 9 states that currently do not license birth centers. Birth Detroit is working to build relationships with all Michigan payors.

Adapted from Birth Detroit

    1. Birth Center Equity

    2. Stapleton SR, Osborne C, Illuzzi J. Outcomes of care in birth centers: demonstration of a durable model. J Midwifery Womens Health.2013;58(1):3–14. doi:10.1111/jmwh.12003.

    3. American Association of Birth Centers. (2017). Standards for Birth Centers. Available from: https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.birthcenters.org/resource/resmgr/AABC-STANDARDS-RV2017.pdf.

    4. Vedam S, Stoll K, MacDorman M, Declercq E, Cramer R, Cheyney M, Fisher T, Butt E, Yang YT, Powell Kennedy H. Mapping integration of midwives across the United States: Impact on access, equity, and outcomes. PLoS One. 2018 Feb 21;13(2):e0192523. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0192523. PMID: 29466389; PMCID: PMC5821332.

    5. National Association of Certified Professional Midwives. Improve Birth Outcomes in the U.S. by Growing the Midwifery Workforce. Available from: https://nacpm.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/2_71119-Midwives-for-MOMS-Act-Advoacay-Sheet.pdf

    6. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 2020. Birth Settings in America: Outcomes, Quality, Access, and Choice .Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/25636.

    7. American Association of Birth Centers. (2016). Available from: https://www.birthcenters.org/page/insurance_coverage.

    8. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services. (2016, April 26). RE: FQHC and RHC Supplemental Payment Requirements and FQHC, RHC, and FBC Network Sufficiency under Medicaid and CHIP Managed Care. Available from: https://www.medicaid.gov/sites/default/files/Federal-Policy-Guidance/Downloads/SMD16006.pdf

    9. Hill I, Dubay L, Courtot B, et al. Strong start for mothers and newborns evaluation: year 5 project synthesis, Vol 1. https://downloads.cms.gov/files/cmmi/strongstart-prenatal-finalevalrpt-v1.pdf. Updated 2018. Accessed April 15, 2020.

    10. Commission for the Accreditation of Birth Centers. Available from: https://www.birthcenteraccreditation.org/. Accessed May 28, 2020.

    11. Almanza, J.I., Karbeah, J., Tessier, K.M. et al. The Impact of Culturally-Centered Care on Peripartum Experiences of Autonomy and Respect in Community Birth Centers: A Comparative Study. Matern Child Health J 26, 895–904 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-021-03245-w

    12. Hays, K., Denmark, M., Levine, A., de Regt, R. H., Andersen, H. F., & Weiss, K. (2022). Smooth transitions: Enhancing interprofessional collaboration when Planned Community Births Transfer to hospital care. Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health, 67(6), 701–706. https://doi.org/10.1111/jmwh.13441

    13. National Partnership for Women & Families. (2022, April). Improving Our Maternity Care Now Through Community Birth Settings.