A childbirth care model that launched at UC Health West Chester Hospital in 2024 is now in use at UC Medical Center in Cincinnati, giving mothers at the region's highest-level maternity center the same team-based approach to labor and delivery that local families experienced first.

UC Medical Center became the first hospital in Hamilton County to implement TeamBirth, UC Health announced Wednesday, July 15. The program builds directly on what staff learned at West Chester Hospital, which was the first in southwest Ohio to adopt the model.

TeamBirth works like this: at key moments during labor, the patient, a support person, the nurse and the provider gather for brief structured huddles called "sparks." They review how labor is progressing, discuss options and agree on next steps together. A shared planning board mounted on the patient's wall names every member of the care team and tracks preferences for both mother and baby.

Shaunda Dawson, a registered nurse and labor and delivery nurse educator leading the rollout at UC Medical Center, said the model changes how information flows in the room.

"The model helps ensure that every patient has a voice and that everyone involved in their care is working from the same plan," Dawson said in UC Health's announcement.

The expansion comes as Hamilton County faces a worsening infant mortality crisis. Cradle Cincinnati reports that infant mortality rates for Black babies in the county have more than doubled over the past two years, a figure that reflects the rate per thousand births rather than raw death counts, according to UC Health. Separately, WVXU reported that 67 infants died in Hamilton County in 2024, up from 55 in 2023.

West Chester Hospital, a Level 2 maternity center serving low- to moderate-risk pregnancies, earned the CMS "Birthing-Friendly" Hospital designation in 2024. UC Medical Center is a Level 4 facility handling the region's most complex pregnancies and critically ill newborns. Having TeamBirth at both levels means families across the risk spectrum now have access to the same communication framework.

Priscilla, a mother of five whose daughter Elizabeth Rae was born Monday, July 6, at UC Medical Center under the new model, told UC Health: "I love this approach. I have four other children and have never experienced this."

Research from Ariadne Labs, which developed TeamBirth, found that communication and teamwork failures play a role in 80 to 90 percent of patient harm cases during childbirth. A study in Oklahoma showed patients who experienced a TeamBirth huddle reported higher trust and autonomy scores. The model is now in use at more than 130 hospitals across the U.S. and in Sweden.

Families delivering at West Chester Hospital or UC Medical Center can expect the TeamBirth huddles and planning board as part of standard labor and delivery care.