Roughly two years since Jefferson Health scooped up the midwife practice from the now-defunct Hahnemann University Hospital, the program is now expanding, writes Mike D’Onofrio for AXIOS.

The practice that provides prenatal care at five Philadelphia city-run health centers through a city contract also has midwives based in Abington Township and New Jersey.

Prior to acquiring the program in 2019, Jefferson Health did not have a midwife service.

Now, the number of midwives in the program has more than doubled. Midwives are experts in performing low-risk, vaginal deliveries. The practice also provides general women’s health care, family planning, and prenatal and postpartum care, among other services.

And since the addition of the Midwife Program, births at Jefferson Health have increased by roughly 1,000 per year.

“They have a lot of credibility in the community, and so it improves, sometimes, the rate of women actually coming for care,” said Owen Montgomery, chief of obstetrics and gynecology at Jefferson New Jersey.

Jefferson Health is also planning on further expanding the practice within the Einstein Healthcare Network. This comes after the two health care systems merged earlier this year.

Read more about Jefferson Health’s Midwife Program in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey in AXIOS.