New York State's Maternity Information Law requires each hospital to provide information about its childbirth practices and procedures. It aims to help individuals, specifically expectant mothers, to understand what they can expect, learn about childbirth choices, and plan for their baby's birth.
Most of the information is given in percentages of all the deliveries occurring in the hospital during a given year. For example, if 20 births out of 100 are by cesarean section, the cesarean rate will be 20 percent.
If a hospital has fewer than 200 births a year, the use of special procedures in just a few births could change its rates. The types of births could affect the rates, as well. Some hospitals offer specialized services to women who are expected to have complicated or high-risk births, or whose babies are not expected to develop normally.
These hospitals can be expected to have higher rates of the special procedures than hospitals that do not offer these services.