Atlantic Health System to Showcase Best Practices in Reducing Maternal Health Morbidity and Mortality

April 26, 2019

Atlantic Health System to be featured during at the New Jersey Perinatal Quality Collaborative’s Spring Conference

Morristown, NJ – Diana N. Contreras, MD, chairman of the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women's Health at Atlantic Health System, will share results of best practices from four Atlantic Health System birthing hospitals in reducing maternal health morbidity and mortality at the New Jersey Perinatal Quality Collaborative’s Spring Conference.

Atlantic Health System birthing hospitals—Morristown Medical Center, Overlook Medical Center, Chilton Medical Center, and Newton Medical Center—participate in the N.J. Perinatal Quality Collaborative, a statewide partnership of committed stakeholders working together to improve the quality and safety of care provided New Jersey’s mothers and babies.

Over the past few years, Atlantic Health System has developed and implemented best practices and programs this support this cause including:

  • Creating hospital-based perinatal quality workgroups focused on quality improvement measures related to obstetric hemorrhage, severe hypertension, and low-risk C-sections among first time moms
  • Active dashboards that better monitor mothers and babies and show real-time hospital data
  • Reducing C-section rates
  • Physician, midwife, and birthing team engagement
  • Implementing protocols that can determine if a mother is in distress post-birth
  • Better educating parents and staff

“The reality is that there is collective work to be done to ensure the health of moms and babies, and Atlantic Health System is proud to be taking a leadership role in creating healthier families,” Dr. Contreras said. “By sharing the work we’ve done across our own hospitals, we hope to provide a roadmap for other hospitals to implement them, and inspire them to create their own best practices that help protect New Jersey’s moms and babies.”

More information about the New Jersey Perinatal Quality Collaborative’s Spring Conference >

More information on Atlantic Health System’s maternity offerings >

About Atlantic Health System

Atlantic Health System is at the forefront of medicine, setting standards for quality health care in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and the New York metropolitan area. Powered by a workforce of more than 16,800 team members and 4,800 affiliated physicians dedicated to building healthier communities, Atlantic Health System serves more than half of the state of New Jersey including 11 counties and 4.9 million people. The system offers more than 400 sites of care, including six hospitals in New Jersey: Morristown Medical Center and Goryeb Children’s Hospital in Morristown, Overlook Medical Center in Summit, Newton Medical Center in Newton, Chilton Medical Center in Pompton Plains, and Hackettstown Medical Center in Hackettstown.

In addition to the employed workforce, Atlantic Alliance, a Clinically Integrated Network represents more than 2,500 health care providers throughout northern and central New Jersey. This network includes 1,000 physicians and providers comprising one of the largest multi-specialty practices in New Jersey - Atlantic Medical Group, as well as members of the Atlantic Accountable Care Organization and Optimus Healthcare Partners which work to enhance patient care delivery.

Atlantic Health System provides care for the full continuum of health care needs including 12 urgent care centers, Atlantic Rehabilitation and Atlantic Home Care and Hospice. Facilitating the connection between these services on both land and air is the transportation fleet of Atlantic Mobile Health.

Atlantic Health System leads the Healthcare Transformation Consortium, a partnership of seven regional hospitals and health systems dedicated to improving access and affordability and is a founding member of the PIER Consortium – Partners in Innovation, Education, and Research – a streamlined clinical trial system that will expand access to groundbreaking research across seven health systems in New Jersey.

Atlantic Health System has a medical school affiliation with Thomas Jefferson University and is home to the regional campus of the Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Morristown and Overlook Medical Centers and is the official health care partner of the New York Jets.