Lafayette General Medical Center Designated Blue Distinction Center for Maternity Care

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana announced Lafayette General Medical Center (LGMC) is one of the first hospitals to receive its national Blue Distinction® Center+ (Plus) for Maternity Care designation. This is a new designation under the Blue Distinction Specialty Care program, designed to help patients find hospitals that deliver quality, affordable maternity care.

This new program evaluates hospitals on several quality measures, including the percentage of newborns that fall into the category of early elective delivery, an ongoing concern in the medical community. Hospitals recognized with this designation are assessed using a combination of publicly available quality information and cost measures derived from Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies’ medical claims. The Plus designation differs from a regular Blue Distinction Center by also meeting cost efficiency requirements.

In addition, hospitals that receive a Blue Distinction designation agreed to meet requirements that align with principles that support evidence-based practices of care, as well as having initiated programs to promote successful breastfeeding, as described in the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative by Baby-Friendly USA. The program also evaluates hospitals on overall patient satisfaction, including a willingness to recommend the hospital to others.

Since being accepted into a baby-friendly program called the EMPower Breastfeeding initiative in June 2015, LGMC has prevented baby formula companies from marketing in the maternity unit and provides extensive breastfeeding education and training to comply with the initiative.

“Our maternity physicians, nurses and leaders have worked hard in pursuit of our Baby-Friendly Initiative and the Blue Distinction Plus recognition,” says Patrick W. Gandy, Jr., CEOof LGMC. “Their results are part of the reason we recently expanded our maternity area and are now leading Acadiana in the number of babies born.”

“We congratulate Lafayette General Medical Center on this accomplishment,” says Paul Murphree, D.O., interim chief medical officer at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana. “Meeting the strenuous criteria required of this new designation is a testament to its commitment to the health of its community. We applaud the hospital’s efforts in helping our mutual customers receive the highest quality maternity care.”

LGMC is also a Blue Distinction center in Bariatrics (weight-loss surgery). It was only the fourth Bariatric distinction issued at the time, and was in addition to accreditation by Cigna 3-Star, Optum Center of Excellence, and Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement.

For more information about the Blue Distinction Specialty Care program, click here.