The following resource outlines the research on home birth. This can be used by payers, policymakers, and others to support reimbursement and legislation supporting home birth.
ACNM supports a woman's right to choose home birth. Clinical practice must be guided by research. The scientific evidence strongly demonstrates that planned home birth under established selection criteria is a safe alternative to hospital birth. In the links below, we summarize this evidence, explore the drivers behind the home birth choice and recommend specific strategies to improve the continuity of care for the small proportion of women and families choosing home birth.
The Case for Expanded Access to Midwifery Care Cost Effectiveness Evidence-Based Practice
The National Business Group on Health's Investing in Maternal and Child Health names certified nurse-midwives and certified midwives first on the list of providers women should consider and recommends health plans develop CNM-friendly benefit design strategies that reduce the risks and costs of unnecessary medical interventions at birth.
"Employers incur the high costs of pregnancy-related healthcare. Pregnancy and neonatal services are often employers' highest claims. Increased utilization of high-cost diagnostics, increases in preterm birth and multifetal pregnancies, and high rates of cesarean delivery are making employers aware of the need to focus on pregnancy-related costs." - NGBH, Investing in Maternal and Child Health toolkit
The Home Birth Debate
In August 2008, former ACNM President Kitty Ernst responded to the American Medical Association and emphasized ACNM's strong support for a woman's right to choose her site of birth and voices strong opposition to AMA's call for greater physician oversight in midwifery.
How You Can Help
Send these materials with your own cover letter to your payers, Medicaid programs, and legislators asking for their support of a woman's choice to choose home birth. Find your legislators
