Covered California Targets High C-Section Rates With New Rule
Experts say too many women are undergoing C-sections when they are not medically warranted, and California's health insurance exchange is taking steps to lower those numbers.
KPCC:
Covered California Takes Novel Step To Reduce C-Section Rate
California's health insurance exchange will use the threat of exclusion from its approved provider networks as a way to motivate hospitals and doctors to reduce the number of medically unnecessary Cesarean sections. Beginning in 2019, insurance companies that contract with Covered California must either exclude from their networks any hospitals that don’t meet the federal government’s 2020 target C-section rate or explain why they aren't, according to the new contract approved by the exchange's board last week. An insurer that wants to keep an underperforming hospital in its network will have to provide Covered California with "the rationale for continued contracting" and document "efforts the hospital is undertaking to improve its performance," the contract states. (Plevin, 4/14)