Free-standing birth centers in California. Program and medical outcome

During 1985, 25 free-standing birth centers (FSBCs) were operating in California. All had a written or verbal backup agreement with a hospital that averaged six minutes away from the center. Seventy-four percent of the deliveries in these centers were attended by obstetricians, 6% by certified nurse-midwives, less than 1% by family physicians and 19% by a team of physicians and midwives. Between 1979 and 1985, over 10,000 women were admitted in labor in California FSBCs. Medical outcome data were collected for 1984 and 1985. The medical outcome for births in these centers demonstrates that FSBCs, while existing under the aegis of an "alternative" philosophy, are associated with a low cesarean section rate, low neonatal mortality and no neonatal mortality.