Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi (BCBSMS) is partnering with delivering Network Hospitals across the state to improve the health of Mississippi moms and babies. BCBSMS supports hospital teams implementing maternity best practices across all care settings through the Maternity Quality Model, a statewide initiative that includes evidence-based guidelines focused on improving maternal infant health outcomes and making childbirth safer.

A key component of the Maternity Quality Model encourages delivering hospitals to achieve the Baby-Friendly Hospital Designation, an international quality designation that recognizes delivering hospitals and facilities that provide evidence-based maternity care with the goal of optimal infant feeding outcomes and mother/baby bonding. Baby-Friendly Hospitals must adhere to The Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding to receive, and retain, a Baby-Friendly designation.

Mississippi Hospitals that have received Baby-Friendly designation have achieved higher rates of breastfeeding initiation, exclusivity, and mother/baby bonding which leads to long term health benefits for mothers and infants. In 2015, only one Mississippi hospital was Baby-Friendly. Mississippi now has 18 Hospitals that have achieved the prestigious Baby-Friendly Hospital designation and nearly all other network hospitals are progressing toward attaining designation status.

Tom Fenter, MD, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi Chief Medical Officer, said, "Achieving Baby-Friendly Hospital designation demonstrates a commitment to practicing evidence-based care to give babies a healthy start to life. Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi is proud of our Network Hospital partnerships across the state focused on improving the quality of care for mothers and babies in Mississippi."

"Achieving Baby-Friendly Hospital designation demonstrates a commitment to practicing evidence-based care to give babies a healthy start to life. Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi is proud of our Network Hospital partnerships across the state focused on improving the quality of care for mothers and babies in Mississippi."

Mississippi's Baby-Friendly hospitals include:

• Anderson Regional Medical Center
• Baptist Memorial Hospital- Desoto
• Baptist Memorial Hospital- Golden Triangle
• Baptist Memorial Hospital- North Mississippi
• Baptist Memorial Hospital- Union County
• Forrest General Hospital
• Highland Community Hospital
• King’s Daughters Medical Center
• Merit Health Biloxi
• Merit Health Madison
• Merit Health River Oaks
• Merit Health Wesley
• Merit Health Woman’s Hospital
• Methodist Olive Branch
• Mississippi Baptist Medical Center
• South Sunflower County Hospital
• Southwest Regional Medical Center
• University of Mississippi Medical Center

Baby-Friendly hospitals encourage and educate women about the benefits and management of breastfeeding. They help mothers initiate breastfeeding within an hour of birth and understand how to maintain lactation. They also allow mothers and families to remain together 24 hours a day through the practice of rooming in. These steps and others are all designed to foster a strong parent-child bond while also giving new mothers more confidence and experience in caring for their newborns before leaving the hospital for home.

Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi is proud to partner with hospitals to support Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies and a Healthy Mississippi. Learn more about BCBSMS’s efforts towards women’s health.