›› The Right Start 2003

January 30, 2003

ANNUAL COST OF HOSPITALIZATION OF LOW BIRTHWEIGHT BABIES IS $100 MILLION

COLUMBIA--Hospital discharge records in South Carolina show that the excess cost of one year of hospitalization of low birthweight newborns is $100 million.

Dr. Baron Holmes, Project Director for South Carolina Kids Count, said, "Over 60% of this is paid for by the South Carolina Medicaid program. The 9.7% of babies with low birthweight account for 54% of newborn hospitalization cost; two-thirds of this is very low birthweight babies under 3.3 pounds whose births cost an average of $91,517 each."

Holmes added, "The additional healthcare, school, and institutionalization costs in subsequent years would likely double this excess cost of low birthweight and pre-maturity. The Medicaid program, state agencies, and school districts will pay most of these additional costs. We can save ourselves a lot of money by getting our babies off to the right start."

The Right Start shows that during the 1990's South Carolina and the nation have made improvements on many measures of healthy births to caring, prepared parents. Overall, the problem rates for South Carolina reported in The Right Start declined by 9% between 1990 and 2000. This should come as no surprise in South Carolina, since governors Riley, Campbell, Beasley, and Hodges made healthy births a priority and enlisted the collaborative efforts of state and local organizations. There is much to celebrate and much still to accomplish.

The good news is:

	Rate Change 1990-2000
Fewer births to teens	-11%
Fewer second births to teens	-17%
Fewer births to undereducated mothers	-13%
Fewer births with little or no prenatal care	-33%
Fewer births to mothers smoking during pregnancy	-39%

 

The bad news is:

	Rate Change 1990-2000
More births to unmarried mothers	+22%
More low birthweight babies	+12%
More premature (pre-term) births	+11%

 

South Carolina's rank:

	1990	2000
Births to teens	43	44
Births to teens already moms	43	37
Births to unmarried mothers	42	47
Births to mothers without high school education	35	35
Late or no prenatal care	44	46
Mothers smoking while pregnant	21	20
Low birthweight	47	47
Pre-term births	43	47
Average:	40	40

 

South Carolina's ranking failed to improve because other states have made similar progress. During the 1990s, South Carolina improved its ranking significantly only for repeat births to teen mothers, with a 1990 ranking of 43rd and a 2000 ranking of 37th. However, South Carolina ranked 43rd or worse on 5 of the 8 indicators in 2000, with an average overall rank of 40th. We are not keeping up with our neighbors, North Carolina and Georgia, which improved their overall rankings to 35th and 33rd respectively. Georgia made dramatic progress. It was tied for 40th with South Carolina in 1990 but improved its performance substantially in prenatal care, smoking, pre-maturity, and low birthweight.

South Carolina's progress has been achieved through hard work by many dedicated persons. Some highlights have been:

• Strong public-private partnerships to improve access to prenatal care, increase the number of medical homes for children, and advocate expansion of insurance coverage.
• Increased enrollment of children in the Partners for Healthy Children health insurance and Medicaid programs.
• Effective community-based adolescent pregnancy prevention programs and family planning services.

In order to continue our progress and to overcome the increasing problems with low birth weight and pre-term births, we must:

• Promote healthy lifestyles among women during pregnancy and pre-conception periods, especially by avoiding smoking, drugs, alcohol, and infections, but also by reducing stress and depression.
• Improve mothers' access to early, risk-appropriate prenatal care and nutrition programs.
• Encourage the formation of strong, viable families who deeply want and are committed to raising healthy, successful children.

Holmes said, "The current state fiscal crisis and budget cuts endanger our noteworthy progress over the past decade. Elected officials and other decision-makers should do everything in their power to sustain South Carolina's progress in assuring the right start for every baby born in the state. Continuing to invest in this effort is fiscally and morally responsible."

With appropriate state-level support, our local communities across South Carolina must strengthen their partnerships to promote healthy births through the actions listed above. Attached are sheets for each county showing the improvement required to reach the national average on each of The Right Start indicators. South Carolina's ranking will improve only when decisive action occurs in each community with support from state-level organizations.

South Carolina Right Start State and County Profiles
South Carolina Right Start County Rankings for Each Indicator
Casey Foundation Right Start Online: South Carolina Profile