Use of Quality Improvement Methods to Understand Local Barriers to Rooming-In and to Improve Breastfeeding Rates

Abstract

Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), a baby-friendly institution, tracks and reports its exclusive breastfeeding rate to the Joint Commission and to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (for newborns covered by public insurance). The average BWH all-payer exclusive breastfeeding rate for the last 3 years was 47.85%, whereas the Massachusetts Health average was 23.47%. Data analysis identified the Hispanic and Black populations (who were overrepresented in the public insurance group) as having the lowest breastfeeding rates, independent of the insurance coverage.