Equity and Sustainability

timely topic Breakout

DATE: Friday, October 13th
TIME: 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
FACULTY: Rebeckah Orton, RN, BS & Laura Wiegand, COO

Midwives hold the keys to bringing maternal healthcare in the United States out of a state of crisis and into running with the top ten nations in the world. We can do it in a very cost-effective manner, but we can't do it cheaply, and we must stop saying that we can. I have learned over the past three years of birth center ownership that very few freestanding birth centers meet or understand the definition of sustainability and equitable reimbursements. Birth centers are not sustainable just because they are open. Until these verybasic concepts are universally understood, we cannot hope to obtain them. I wish to present on the basic definitions of these items as well as a clear roadmap to obtaining them in each state. During this presentation, I will convey a brief history of how we have arrived in our current predicament and how we can safely make it so we have universal access to birth center care across states and regions.

Faculty

Rebeckah Orton, RN, BS
Rebeckah is the owner and director of Astoria Birth Center & Family Medicine, which opened three years ago. She has spent the last seven years in advocacy for birthing people and birth professionals in the state of Oregon has been involved in birth work for fourteen years in a variety of roles. Rebeckah gained a strong background in research through her degree in Biology and during her time working with world infectious disease leaders while managing a parasitology lab at Harvard School of Public Health. She has used this background to present compelling, data-driven arguments in favor of the sustainability of midwifery and birth centers to insurers, legislators, and policymakers on the state and national level.

Laura Wiegand, COO
Laura currently serves as the COO/Co-Founder of Birth Partners, Inc. She successfully managed the opening of the Birth Center of Bloomington-Normal (IL) Burr Ridge Birth Center (IL) and assisted with opening Beginnings Birth Center (CO). She is in the process of opening two other birth centers. At the national level, she serves on the AABC Industry Relations Committee and on a state level she serves on the Illinois Birth Center Task Force. She works at the state and local level to educate the public, medical communities, and health insurance providers about the benefits of the midwifery and birth center model of care including better outcomes, reduced costs for families and payors. With over 20 years healthcare management experience, Laura has made a career of directing multiple site operations, while securing financial results and building a team that focuses on maximizing care and the entire the experience, serving as a resource for all aspects of healthcare and birth center operations.