Hospital Lets Moms Stay Longer Tacoma General Puts An End To ‘Drive-Through Deliveries’

Effective Jan. 2, there will be no more “drive-through deliveries” at Tacoma General Hospital.

Some hospitals have been criticized for sending newborns and their mothers home within 24 hours after a normal vaginal delivery.

The Tacoma hospital plans to let them stay for up to 48 hours after a normal delivery at no extra cost.

Tacoma General is believed to be the first hospital in the Northwest to make such a move.

Lind Simonsen, spokesman for Multicare Health System, which runs Tacoma General, said the extra day of care would be paid for without any new income from insurance companies and without raising rates to individuals.

“We just feel this is the right thing to do,” he said.

He would not put a dollar amount on the new service. However, a rough average used in the insurance industry is that a day in the hospital costs about $1,000. Tacoma General has about 3,500 deliveries a year, so if each delivery included an extra day of care, the added cost would be about $3.5 million.

Diane Cecchettini, vice president of patient services for Multicare, said the second day of care will be optional. Women who chose to go home earlier and have the permission of their doctors can do so.

“They’re saying, ‘Enough is enough,’ to the trend of letting insurance companies determine the level of health care,” said state Sen. Kevin Quigley, D-Lake Stevens, chairman of the Senate’s Health and Long-Term Care Committee.

The issue “drive-through deliveries” drew nationwide attention earlier this year after the federal government’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a survey showing hospital stays for women who gave birth vaginally decreased by almost half - from 3.9 days to 2.1 days - between 1970 and 1992.

The average stay has continued to decline, and now stands at about 24 hours after a normal delivery.

U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley, D-N.J., earlier this year introduced a bill that would require carriers to pay for at least 48 hours of postpartum care.

The bill is endorsed by the American Medical Association, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

New Jersey and Maryland already have passed comparable bills.

Quigley plans to introduce a similar bill when the state Legislature convenes next month. He said it would be a first step in getting health care decisions back into the hands of medical experts and away from insurance companies.

But officials at Pierce County Medical Bureau, the county’s largest provider of medical insurance, said it’s unfair to blame insurance companies for decisions made by hospitals, doctors and new mothers themselves.

“We don’t set a time limit on our maternity care,” said Juli Pisto, manager of corporate communications for the insurance company. “We applaud what Tacoma General is doing. Providing extra care and attention for those who need it is a great thing. But we negotiate the cost of maternity care, and every other procedure, with each hospital we deal with. We don’t dictate anything.”