Hospitals can begin earning “birth-friendly” designations from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in the fall of 2023, the agency announced Wednesday.

The designation will initially be based on the hospital admissions quality reporting program’s Maternal morbidity structural measures. CMS said in a press release that hospitals will need to meet expanded criteria in the future.

The reporting period for the morbidity measure begins in October, and hospitals will first submit data to CMS in May. The metric requires hospitals to demonstrate whether they are participating in a state or national perinatal quality improvement partnership and whether they have implemented safety measures or bundling measures to address birth complications such as bleeding and sepsis.

“Everyone deserves access to quality health care, especially as they start to start a family,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a news release. “At HHS, we are proposing to designate ‘birth-friendly’ hospitals and work with states to provide postpartum care throughout the year to ensure all parents get the best care they need before, during and after pregnancy. “

American Hospital Association Questions CMS’ Long-Term Value first proposed Last year, it urged the agency to develop stronger substance-morbidity measures in the future.

“We believe that hospitals could make more progress if CMS moved to measures that more directly assess the quality of maternal care—a progress that would be better understood by CMS and the public. The proposed measures reflect engagement with clear activities in the AHA’s wrote in the comments letter on the proposed rules.

CMS plans to release 2021 structural measures of maternal morbidity this fall, and the first hospitals to be designated “birth-friendly” will be named the following fall. More information about the plan will be included in the 2023 proposed rules for the expected payment system for hospital inpatients, which are expected to be released in the coming weeks.

Maintaining its “birth-friendly” designation, the agency will help patients choose hospitals that are committed to safe maternal health.

Maternal deaths in the U.S. have been increasing since 2000, according to a report from federal funds. Nearly 24 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in the United States in 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.The rate is far black women tallermore than 55 per 100,000 people died during childbirth.

The announcement comes ahead of Black Maternal Health Week, during which Vice President Kamala Harris will host the first maternal health meeting with cabinet members and agency leaders.