American Association of Birth Centers (AABC)

The Association promotes and supports Birth Centers by working with members, conducting workshops and seminars and supporting the strong start grant program.-membership: in 2023, aabc served 1,185 members (216 organizational members, 746 organizational staff members and 223 individual members)see additional information on schedule o.-education offerings: -how to start a Birth center workshops online (94 learners) -how to start a Birth center in-person (30 learners) -learning collaborative for Birth center sustainability (63 learners) -aabc Birth institute (san diego, ca) (210 participants and 30 education sessions) -community Birth assistant training program (78 learners) -Birth center onboarding training program (46 learners) -dei foundations training on-demand (38 learners) -curbside consulting (29 learners) -Birth center focused nrp trainings 26 classes (260 learners) -7 live webinars with a total of 106 participants -32 on-demand webinars (360 learners)-curbside consulting - conducted 14 sessions with a total of 29 participants-irc office hours conducted 10 sessions with a total of 134 participants-perinatal data registry 76 active sites contributed data. Total pdr records at end of 2023 was 171,407. -standards for Birth Centers (647 downloads)-diversity + inclusion scholarships awarded 23 scholarships for the aabc Birth institute, how to start a Birth center workshop, or community Birth assistant trainingtoolkits on the following topics: -Birth center protocols (84 downloads) -clia compliance for Birth Centers (35 downloads) -risk management + sentinel events (40 downloads) -coordination + collaboration with ems for safe, timely transfers (42 downloads) -best practices in Birth center regulations (317 downloads) -billing for facility services (76 downloads) -Birth center contracting (44 downloads) -engaging employers, contractors and payors (24 downloads)-white paper "getting payment right: how to unlock high-value care through appropriate Birth center reimbursement" (126 downloads)-research activities- published: --jolles, r. d., niemczyk, n., hoehn-velasco, l., wallace, j., wright, j., stapleton, s., flynn, c., pelletier-butler, p., versace, a., marcelle, e., thornton, p., bauer, k. (2023). The Birth center model of care: staffing, business characteristics, and core clinical outcomes. Birth. Http://doi.org/10.1111/birt.12745 --manns-james, l., vines, s., alliman, j., hoehn-velasco, l., stapleton, s., wright, j., jolles, d. (2023). Race, ethnicity, and indications for primary cesarean Birth: associations within a national Birth center registry. Birth, 51(2), 353-362. Http://doi.org/10.1111/birt.12791 --wallace, j., hoehn-velasco, l., tilden, e., dowd, b., calvin, s., jolles, d., wright, j., stapleton, s. (2023). An alternative model of maternity care for low-risk Birth: maternal and neonatal outcomes utilizing the midwifery-based Birth center model. Health services research. Httpsdoiorg1011111475677314222 - presented --goh, a., nguyen, a., johnson, n. (2023, oct. 13). Asian and latinx Birth outcomes within the aabc perinatal data registry 2007-2021. [general session: research panel]. Aabc Birth institute 2023, American Association of Birth Centers, tucson, az, united states. --nguyen, a. (2023, oct. 12-14). Chorioamnionitis: sociodemographic and medical risk factors, labor characteristics and outcomes aabc perinatal data registry 2007-2020 [poster presentation]. Aabc Birth institute 2023. American Association of Birth Centers, tucson, az, united states. - facilitated Birth Centers contribution of their pdr data to the acnm benchmarking project- working actively with several associations including the American college of obstetricians and gynecologists, the society of maternal fetal medicine specialists, the American college of nurse-midwives, the midwives alliance of north American, and the national Association of certified professional midwives on projects like: several areas: - meetings on maternal safety / maternal mortality - women's health registry alliance - maternity care data alliance- commented on proposed state regulations related to Birth center care in Alabama, California Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, new york, west Virginia- state chapters in Arizona, California, Colorado, Minnesota new york, and Texas- worked on payment issues Birth Centers experiencing with tricare.- worked on advancing legislation to improve access to Birth Centers and the midwifery model of care.new program initiatives in 2023:- learning collaborative for Birth center sustainability new education program to teach Birth Centers how to use price transparency data to negotiate contracts for sustainable reimbursement- stopped publishing member newsletter (3x/year) and member directory. These resources are now integrated in member communications and online resources- drafted and adopted community agreements for where members gather (online and in-person)- release new member toolkit "Birth center protocols" this replaces print sample policies and procedures manual- agreement with frontier nursing university for their students to attend the how to start a Birth center workshop (online/in-person) ended.