Premier Birth Center Care
A birth center is a home-like setting with resources for low-risk women to give birth naturally. Premier Birth Center is all of that, but we’re also like an extended family helping you along the way. When you come to Premier Birth Center, we want you to feel safe, we want you to feel loved, we want you to feel like you’ve come home.
We have two spacious birth suites equipped with deep soaking tubs that can be used for labor and for waterbirth. Deep immersion helps reduce the need for pharmacological pain relief and facilitates labor progress. We encourage our clients to remain active in labor and to give birth in whatever position seems to be working best for them. Premier Birth Center families also have use of the full kitchen during their birth. Our clients eat lightly and stay hydrated, avoiding the need for IV fluids during labor.
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After birth, mothers and babies are never separated and all initial baby assessments are done with baby still in the mother’s arms. Because our mothers are not medicated, they are discharged after their immediate postpartum observation period, approximately 4 to 6 hours after the birth.
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Premier Birth Center is the only accredited birth center in Virginia to offer VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean) and waterbirth. Being accredited means we have a commitment to excellence at Premier Birth Center.
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CABC accreditation involves an extensive review of all aspects of business and clinical operations of the birth center.
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A detailed self-evaluation report from the birth center is required.
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A 2-day site visit is done to verify the materials in that report. The site visitors do not make the accreditation decision, but serve to verify, amplify and clarify materials and findings from the site visit and self-evaluation report. This process includes:
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A complete review of all birth center clinical and administrative policies and procedures
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Assessment for good business practices to enhance birth center viability and continuity for consumers
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Review of personnel files to confirm appropriate credentials and certifications
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Review of risk criteria and transfer procedures
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Evaluation of risk management and Continuous Quality Improvement programs for thoroughness and implementation
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Detailed chart reviews
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Review of required birth center clinical outcome statistics
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Meticulous facility inspection
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Interviews with birth center staff, collaborative physicians and hospital personnel.
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A team of panelists then review all materials and makes the final decision regarding accreditation.
Our Commitment to Excellence
Why Accreditation Matters for Virginia Birth Centers
Accreditation is based on the American Association of Birth Centers Standards for Birth Centers. The American Association of Birth Centers (AABC) sets national standards to provide a consistent and specific tool for measuring the quality of services provided to childbearing families in birth centers. Federal and state regulation, licensure, and national accreditation constitute branches of external evaluation of quality in birth centers.
Licensing protects the public by monitoring compliance to codes, ordinances and a variety of regulations. Some states and municipalities are very specific and uniform in the level of requirements for safe operation, but others are nonspecific or vary in their requirements which may or may not be relevant to birth centers. Virginia does not license birth centers, so there is no defined legal standard to which Virginia birth centers are held. Accreditation affirms that Premier Birth Center meets national standards.
The standards and attributes for national accreditation are uniformly applied in all localities, thereby eliminating state and local inconsistency. Meeting the standards of accreditation indicates to clients, states, health and liability insurance agencies, consulting providers, and hospitals that a birth center has met a high standard of evidence-based and widely recognized benchmarks for maternity care, neonatal care, business operations, and safety. A strong internal quality improvement program, in accordance with the standards, promotes success with external measurements of quality. Continuing accreditation demonstrates to consumers and other entities that best practices are being met and maintained by a birth center.
Download a digital version of the AABC Standards for Birth Centers
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