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How to Choose a Hospital, Then a Doctor

Start with outcomes, then the people you trust

How I research local hospitals and the providers who deliver there: what to look up, where to find it and how to vet a name before you commit.

Key points

Part 1: Research your local hospitals

The hospital decides who is in the building overnight, how fast an emergency is handled and what happens if your baby needs intensive care. I start there, then look for a doctor who delivers at the hospital I’ve chosen.

What to check, and where

About the ratings. CMS’s “Birthing-Friendly” label, from the federal Medicare and Medicaid agency, means a hospital attests that it takes part in quality improvement work; it has no outcome threshold. US News maternity ratings cover newborn complications, cesarean and episiotomy rates and breastfeeding support. Use both as starting points, not answers.

Questions to ask about safety

  • Levels of care. Ask for the hospital’s maternal level of care and its NICU level separately. A Level IV NICU doesn’t mean Level IV maternal care.
  • Severe high blood pressure. Ask whether the hospital follows the AIM severe hypertension bundle: how it recognizes and treats dangerous readings, and how it handles postpartum concerns.
  • Leaving the hospital. The AIM postpartum discharge bundle is a checklist to ask against: a discharge summary, a scheduled follow-up, medication instructions, named contacts and how to get an urgent assessment.
  • Respect. Ask whether the hospital measures how Black patients experience care, for example with a patient survey like PREM-OB or the Birth Place Lab’s respect and autonomy measures, and what it changes as a result.

Part 2: Find a provider

Start with a recommendation

The most useful thing I can tell you is to find a recommendation. Build your community of women and ask who they had a good experience with, and who they’d go back to. When you’re in a hospital or a doctor’s office for anything, ask the people there: who would you send your own family to? Doulas and childbirth educators know local providers and are worth asking too.

Then widen the net: Google reviews, local Facebook parent groups and Reddit, including city subreddits and r/BabyBumps. Read them for patterns in communication and experience, not as proof of clinical quality. Use them to build a shortlist, then verify credentials and ask specific questions about your care.

What I did, and what I’d do differently

In my first pregnancy, I looked through the photos of the doctors in the department and chose one of two Black doctors. When I first saw the doctor’s face, I felt relief at seeing someone who looked like me. Their experience and Ivy League education reassured me.

My approach to choosing the actual provider was more emotional than data-based. Seeing someone who looked like me brought real relief, and that still matters to me. What I’d add now is more evidence: the data on the hospital, what women who’ve been there say and a check on the person.

The research on matching patients and doctors by race is mixed. One large Florida study found Black newborns’ excess deaths fell sharply when Black physicians cared for them, though it couldn’t measure an effect for mothers and their obstetricians. A later analysis found the effect weakened substantially once very low birth weight was accounted for. In a study of 32 Black birthing people, participants said they preferred same-race providers because of past racism, and had trouble finding one. Wanting a doctor who looks like you is reasonable. It isn’t enough on its own.

Vet every name

  1. License and discipline. Search your state medical board, or the national DocInfo lookup.
  2. Board certification. ABOG’s lookup, from the board that certifies OB-GYNs, shows whether an OB-GYN is board certified.
  3. State profiles. New Jersey’s Health Care Profile shows board certification, hospital privileges, discipline and malpractice payments. New York’s Physician Profile shows malpractice payments and legal actions.
  4. The basics, from the office. Are they taking new patients? Do they take your exact plan, not just the insurer’s name? Do they deliver at your hospital?
  5. Coverage. Who delivers if your doctor isn’t on call, and who is in the hospital overnight?
  6. A first conversation. Ask whether a consultation is possible before you transfer care. How a doctor answers your first questions tells you more than any directory.

Directories for building a shortlist

  • The Bridge Directory
    • What it’s for: Professionals of color in pregnancy, birth, postpartum and early parenting, with filters for care needs, insurance and location
    • What a listing doesn’t tell you: Credentials, whether they’re taking patients, your exact plan, hospital privileges
  • Health In Her HUE
    • What it’s for: Culturally responsive clinicians, including OB-GYNs
    • What a listing doesn’t tell you: How an individual clinician will communicate or manage your care
  • BlackDoctor: Find a Doctor
    • What it’s for: Physician search by location and specialty, to widen a shortlist
    • What a listing doesn’t tell you: The site’s cultural-care claims aren’t an independent assessment of any doctor
  • Sista Midwife Directory
    • What it’s for: Black midwives and lactation specialists; the site links to a separate doula directory.
    • What a listing doesn’t tell you: Service area, hospital relationships, backup, fees
  • National Black Doulas Association
    • What it’s for: Black, BIPOC and LGBTQIA doula directory, plus questions for interviewing a doula
    • What a listing doesn’t tell you: Availability for your due date, training, insurance arrangements
  • SMFM: Find an MFM
    • What it’s for: Maternal-fetal medicine specialists by state
    • What a listing doesn’t tell you: The directory may be incomplete; referral rules and insurance vary
  • APTA Pelvic Health PT Locator
    • What it’s for: Pelvic floor physical therapists, filterable for pregnancy, postpartum and cesarean scar care
    • What a listing doesn’t tell you: Therapists opt in; ask about their experience with your needs
  • PSI Perinatal Mental Health Directory
    • What it’s for: Postpartum Support International’s search for perinatal therapists by insurance and ZIP code; keywords like “perinatal loss”
    • What a listing doesn’t tell you: Current availability, fees and training

How I searched this time

This pregnancy, I compared hospitals, prioritized outcomes for Black mothers and made a Level IV NICU a requirement. I’m also building more than one relationship: an OB responsible for my pregnancy, maternal-fetal medicine, cardiology and a pelvic floor therapist. (“How I’m Preparing for My Next Pregnancy”)

Search terms for any other state

Search terms. Replace the brackets with your city, county, state, hospital or exact plan.

  • Black physicians: [CITY] Black physicians association obstetrics gynecology directory
  • Black birth workers: [CITY] Black doula collective midwife directory
  • Maternal-fetal medicine: [STATE] maternal fetal medicine specialist referral insurance
  • Hospital maternal level: [STATE] health department maternal levels of care designated hospitals
  • NICU level: [STATE] health department neonatal levels of care designated facilities NICU
  • Hospital cesarean data: [STATE] maternity hospital report card NTSV cesarean rates
  • Outcomes by race: [HOSPITAL NAME] maternity equity report severe maternal morbidity Black patients
  • State deaths and causes: [STATE] maternal mortality review committee report Black pregnancy related deaths
  • Hospital safety work: [STATE] perinatal quality collaborative hypertension hemorrhage participating hospitals
  • A doctor’s license: [STATE] medical board physician license lookup disciplinary actions

When you open a result, check three things: the year of the data, the exact hospital campus and how the measure is defined.

Building the whole team

One doctor isn’t a care team. My list this time:

  • An OB who is responsible for my pregnancy.
  • Maternal-fetal medicine, because my history makes me high risk.
  • Cardiology.
  • A pelvic floor therapist.
  • Possibly a midwife and a naturopath. (“How I’m Preparing for My Next Pregnancy”)

One rule ties them together: I don’t do anything without a doctor’s or care provider’s approval. That doesn’t mean I can’t bring my own research.

Take this back

To discuss with the hospital and your care team. If you only ask two, ask the first and the third.

  • What level of maternal care do you provide, and what is your NICU level? Who designated them?
  • Can you share outcomes for Black patients: severe complications, hemorrhage, readmissions and cesarean rates, with the number of births and the years?
  • If I raise a concern and the first answer doesn’t resolve it, how is it escalated?
  • After discharge, who manages my blood pressure, and where do I go for an incision problem?
  • Who is in the hospital overnight: obstetrics, anesthesia, neonatology?
  • Who will deliver my baby, and who covers for you?
  • Do you measure whether Black patients feel respected? What has changed because of it?

To discuss with your insurer: Which of these clinicians and hospitals are covered under my exact plan? What needs a referral or authorization? Is there a nurse case manager for high-risk pregnancies?

To discuss with the people in your life: If something about my doctor doesn’t feel right, will you tell me, and will you back me if I want to leave?

Next in the series: “Losing One Twin and Carrying the Other”

Sources

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