OSF HealthCare Saint Anthony Medical Center is proud to be recognized by the Illinois Perinatal Quality Collaborative (ILPQC) Illinois Birthing Hospital Quality Designation Program as a recipient of the 2025 Illinois Birthing Hospital Quality Excellence Award.
The award recognizes the medical center’s commitment to advancing equitable, high-quality perinatal care and our exceptional progress in implementing key strategies from Promoting Vaginal Birth (PVB) and Birth Equity (BE) initiatives. It honors our dedication to sustainability, reducing primary cesareans, addressing disparities and promoting respectful and patient-centered care for patients.
To earn this designation, each facility must demonstrate achievement of all of the following: active participation in ILPQC initiatives, meaningful engagement of patient partners with obstetric QI teams, engagement of community partners such as doulas and home visiting programs to improve patient access to community services, engaging patients and community partners to attend Respectful Care Breakfasts with clinical staff to promote equitable and respectful obstetric care, data-driven improvements in reducing disparities in low-risk first time cesarean rates, screening for social needs and linking obstetric patients to needed community resources, and integration of quality improvement practices into clinical care.
As part of this designation, OSF Saint Anthony received $20,000 to support enhanced quality-improvement and equity initiatives within its obstetric services. The program is supported by a Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois (BCBSIL) expanded Special Beginnings® Maternal and Infant Health Initiative grant and recognizes hospitals sustaining quality improvements from ILPQC’s Promoting Vaginal Birth and Birth Equity initiatives.
The BCBSIL initiative aims to improve the health of moms and babies throughout Illinois, with an increased focus on access to quality care, reducing resource and care gaps, and supporting families across the state. The initiative also works to address factors that influence the health and wellbeing of women, children, and families, including addressing the social determinants of health.