​NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., April 23, 2015 – Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian’s Women’s Health Institute is proud to announce that it has been recognized as a leader in women’s health by several national and statewide organizations. From offering consistent excellence in breast health, to lowering cesarean section rates, and providing superior maternity care, Hoag has long led the nation in women’s health – and prestigious foundations and organizations are applauding Hoag’s achievements.

The National Consortium of Breast Centers announced that it recently recognized Hoag as a Certified Quality Breast Center of Excellence in the National Quality Measures for Breast Centers Program™ (NQMBC™) for the second consecutive year. As the only Certified Quality Breast Center of Excellence in Orange County, the distinguished honor represents Hoag’s commitment to highest quality breast care.

Reflecting more than five years of work and the adoption of 33 National Quality Indicators™, the NQMBC program measures and compares the quality of performance in assessing patient care and allocating resources.

“In today’s dynamic health care industry, breast centers are faced with providing quality care while simultaneously keeping costs under control,” said January Lopez, M.D., Director of Breast Imaging at Hoag Breast Center. “A center’s staff must not only be familiar with existing standards of care, but must also be aware of new advances in technology. Hoag actively ensures it provides the best possible quality breast care to women in their community.”

The accolades for the Institute continue, as Hoag’s Maternal Child Services has achieved Baby-Friendly® re-designation.

Sponsored by the World Health Organization and the United Nation’s Children’s Fund, the Baby Friendly Initiative is a global recognition of hospitals that provide an optimal level of care for infant feeding and mother-baby bonding. The designation requires a comprehensive examination of policies and procedures, staff training, and audits to assure quality in all aspects of evidenced-based maternity care and meeting important public health goals.

When Hoag was designated in 2009 there were only 80 hospitals within the United States with this designation. Today Hoag is one of 243 U.S. hospitals and birthing centers with the Baby-Friendly® designation.

“Hoag delivers more than 6,000 babies a year – the most of any hospital in Orange County – because expecting parents know that they will receive the best quality care by the most attentive and capable staff,” said Allyson Brooks, M.D., Women’s Health Institute Executive Medical Director. “Multiple generations of families are delivered here, and each birth is a celebration.”

Finally, to celebrate and share the success Hoag has had in reducing preventable cesarean section rates, Dr. Brooks has been asked to speak at a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-supported maternity care teleconference in San Francisco in May. The conference, hosted by the Pacific Business Group on Health will promote Hoag’s success in their Transform Maternity Care pilot program in which Hoag achieved a 7% reduction in total cesarean section rate between 2012-2014.

“Through our clinical redesign efforts at Hoag, including leveraging data for quality improvement and implementing consumer education and decision support, we have reversed an out-of-control trend of operative delivery to make mothers and families healthier while moderating costs,” said Dr. Brooks.

ABOUT HOAG MEMORIAL HOSPITAL PRESBYTERIAN

Hoag is an approximately $1 billion nonprofit, regional health care delivery network in Orange County, California, that treats more than 25,000 inpatients and 369,000 outpatients annually. Hoag consists of two acute-care hospitals, six health centers, and eight urgent care centers. Hoag Hospital Newport Beach, which has served Orange County since 1952, and Hoag Hospital Irvine, which opened in 2010, are designated Magnet hospitals by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). Hoag offers a comprehensive blend of health care services that includes five institutes providing specialized services in the following areas: cancer, heart and vascular, neurosciences,women’s health, and orthopedics through Hoag’s affiliate, Hoag Orthopedic Institute. In 2013, Hoag entered into an alliance with St. Joseph Health to further expand health care services in the Orange County community, known as St. Joseph Hoag Health. Hoag has been named one of the Best Regional Hospitals in the U.S. News & World Report Metro Edition. National Research Corporation has endorsed Hoag as Orange County’s most preferred hospital for the past 19 consecutive years and, for an unprecedented 19 years, residents of Orange County have chosen Hoag as one of the county’s best hospitals in a local newspaper survey. Visit www.hoag.org for more information.