PC-05 Exclusive Breast Milk Feeding

PC-05 assesses the rate of newborns exclusively fed breast milk during the newborn´s entire hospitalization. This measure is a part of a set of four nationally implemented measures that address perinatal care (PC-01: Elective Delivery, PC-02: Cesarean Section, ePC-02 Cesarean Birth will be added as an eCQM 1/1/2020, PC-06 Unexpected Complications in Term Newborns was added as a chart-based measure on 1/1/2019). ePC-05: Exclusive Breast Milk Feeding, is one of three measures in this set that has been reengineered as eCQMs and is included in the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR) Program and the Medicare and Medicaid Promoting Interoperability programs.

Increasing the number of newborns who are exclusively fed breast milk for the first six months of life remains a major goal of the WHO, DHHS, AAP and ACOG. Guidelines for the promotion of breast milk feeding are available from the CDC to assist hospitals in establishing successful interventions to improve exclusive breast milk feeding rates in newborns. Breast milk feeding results in numerous health benefits for both mother and newborn. Breastfeeding is associated with decreased risk for many early-life diseases and conditions, including otitis media, respiratory tract infections, atopic dermatitis, gastroenteritis, type 2 diabetes, sudden infant death syndrome, and obesity. Breastfeeding also is associated with health benefits to women, including decreased risk for type 2 diabetes, ovarian cancer, and breast cancer. The measure assists health care organizations (HCOs) to track evidence of increases in the number of newborns who were exclusively fed breast milk during the birth hospitalization.