New York Hospital Maternity Practices Since 2008

New York State law mandates hospitals report childbirth practices and procedures, creating this public dataset. The data includes measures like cesarean section rates and epidural usage for facilities across the state, compiled by health.data.ny.gov. Records begin in 2008 and are updated regularly, with the latest update in March 2026.

Use Cases

• Analyze temporal trends in specific 'Measure Name' metrics like 'Primary Cesarean Section Rate' by 'Year' and 'Hospital County'.
• Compare hospital performance by calculating and ranking 'Percent' values for measures such as 'Vaginal Birth After Cesarean (VBAC) Rate' across different 'Hospital Name' entries.
• Identify geographic disparities in maternity care by aggregating 'Count' and 'Denominator' data for measures within each 'Hospital County'.
• Build a model to predict a hospital's 'Percent' for a given 'Measure ID' based on its 'Hospital County' and historical performance.

Strengths

• Data collection is mandated by New York State's Maternity Information Law, ensuring consistent reporting.
• Provides a long-term view with records spanning from 2008 to the present.
• Includes structured performance metrics via 'Measure ID', 'Denominator', and 'Percent' columns for quantitative analysis.

Limitations

• Sample size and total 'Rows' are unknown, limiting assessment of statistical power.
• Geographic scope is limited to New York State hospitals, not nationally representative.
• Data completeness for all 'Hospital Name' entries across all 'Year' and 'Measure Name' values is unverified.

Provenance

Source

health.data.ny.gov, the official open data portal for New York State.

Collection Method

Collected via mandatory hospital reporting under New York State's Maternity Information Law.

Time Range

Beginning 2008 to present.

Freshness

Updated regularly, with a recent update timestamp of 2026-03-11.

Geography

Hospitals within New York State, identifiable by 'Hospital County'.