Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola, Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast, and Ascension St. Vincent’s Southside have earned the honor of being on Newsweek’s list of America’s Best Maternity Care Hospitals at the highest five ribbon level.
The Best Maternity Care distinction recognizes facilities that have provided exceptional care to mothers, newborns, and their families based on three data sources. These include nationwide online surveys of hospital managers and maternity healthcare professionals, medical key performance indicators relevant to maternity care and patient satisfaction data.
“This recognition demonstrates the work of our associates to ensure mothers and babies receive high-quality care in our facilities,” said Dr. Syed Jafri, Chief Clinical Officer, Ascension Florida. “Ascension Florida’s commitment goes beyond the walls of our clinics and hospitals to help families have a strong, healthy start.”
Ascension Florida recognizes that the health and well-being of mothers and babies requires more than just high-quality care. From education and essential resources to social support and improved care coordination, Ascension Florida maternity hospitals work to address the broader challenges that can impact maternal and infant health. These programs reflect our mission to provide holistic maternal health.
Here are some examples of how we are improving care for moms and babies:
- Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola delivers 75% of all babies born in Pensacola with the region’s only Level III NICU and only Regional Perinatal Center providing the highest level of care for both moms and babies.
- The Studer Family Children’s Hospital at Ascension Sacred Heart has the region’s only Level III NICU – delivering advanced care for preterm and critically sick babies. Sacred Heart Emerald Coast has the only NICU serving families in Walton and Okaloosa Counties close to home and just celebrated its fifth year anniversary.
- Sacred Heart Pensacola currently utilizes multiple approaches to improve healthcare insecurity for mothers and infants. The Women's Care Center team is addressing key obstacles to care such as transportation, insurance, financial resources and child care. Maternal health navigators who identify maternal patients finding difficulty in these barrier areas have a number of tools available to alleviate them including: coordinating with rideshare services to help patients get to their appointments, providing pack-n-plays for safe sleeping habits and offering iron-rich food and education bags.
- Sacred Heart Pensacola and Emerald Coast started participating in the State’s first postpartum wristband initiative one year ago. The new program involves giving a silver rubber wristband to mothers to voluntarily wear for up to a year postpartum. This has helped prioritize them as patients and spotlight their medical history when they seek care through EMS, ERs or other medical sites.
- The Studer Family Children’s Hospital at Ascension Sacred Heart and Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast hold the Baby-Friendly designation in recognition of its commitment to the highest level of breastfeeding support and education.
- St. Vincent’s Brighter Beginnings program performs monthly community education at Edward Waters University, an HBCU, for pregnant or new moms. The program also provides mothers with food boxes and infant supplies for most at-risk moms. All services are free of charge.
This distinguished honor is one of many recognitions Ascension Florida hospitals have received for their commitment to maternal care. Other accolades received in the last year include:
- Sacred Heart Pensacola, Sacred Heart Emerald Coast, and St. Vincent’s Clay County earned the distinction of being a U.S. News & World Report 2025 High Performing hospital for Maternity Care. This is the highest recognition a hospital can earn in the Best Hospitals for Maternity Care annual ratings.
- U.S. News recognized Sacred Heart Emerald Coast as a Maternity Care Access Hospital, for its essential role in serving underserved communities at risk of becoming maternity care deserts. Only 118 hospitals – representing just 14% of all evaluated hospitals – earned this distinction for their critical contributions to maternity care access.
- Ascension Sacred Heart Emerald Coast and St. Vincent’s Clay County are Maternal Levels of Care verified hospitals by The Joint Commission through its collaboration with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and support from the Florida Perinatal Quality Collaborative.
- Ascension St. Vincent’s Southside and St. Vincent’s Clay County were honored with 2024 Excellence in Maternal Care awards from the Florida Hospital Association.
To learn more about Sacred Heart birthing facilities visit SacredHeartBaby.com. To find information about St. Vincent’s maternity care go to JaxHealthBaby.org.
