The cost-effectiveness of home birth

Outcomes of planned home births with certified professional midwives: large prospective study in North America

“…An economic analysis found that an uncomplicated vaginal birth in hospital in the United States cost on average three times as much as a similar birth at home with a midwife41 in an environment where management of birth has become an economic, medical, and industrial enterprise 42. Our study of certified professional midwives suggests that they achieve good outcomes among low risk women without routine use of expensive hospital interventions.…”

The Canadian Birth Place Study: Describing maternity practice and providers' exposure to home birth

“…A woman's choice of birth place assumes that she has a range of options and access to qualified providers. Despite mounting evidence that planned home births are safe (Janssen et al, 2009;Hutton et al, 2009), cost-effective (Anderson and Anderson, 1999;O'Brien et al, 2010), and in demand in urban and rural Canada (Grzybowski et al, 2007;Norberg, 2007), the majority of women in Canada give birth in hospitals and access to birth at home or in birth centres is limited. Ten per cent of women in Canadian provinces where regulated midwifery is available are attended by midwives, and approximately 20% of those births are planned home births (3% of all births) (Canadian Institute of Health Information, 2007).…”

Infant outcomes of certified nurse midwife attended home births: United States 2000 to 2004

“…1,2 Currently, the only Western nation doing a substantial number of home births (B30% of all births) is the Netherlands. 3 The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in conjunction with the Royal College of Midwives in the United Kingdom, 'support the provision of home birth services for women at low risk of complications.'…”

“…8 Although the data on the cost-savings of in-home births are extremely limited, one study suggests the cost of home births to be approximately one-third of that of in-hospital costs. 1 In the debate of the virtues of home birthing the most important factor to consider is the risk for adverse outcome in both the infant and mother. Comparisons of outcomes for infants by site of birth vary by study design.…”