Berlin, NH – April 17, 2026 – Androscoggin Valley Hospital’s (AVH) Valley Birthplace celebrated the launch of their TeamBirth initiative on Friday, April 17, 2026. Developed by Ariadne Labs, TeamBirth is a nation-wide evidence-based care model designed to improve communication, safety, and shared decision-making surrounding birthing. Bringing together patients, support people, and clinical teams including nurses and obstetricians, TeamBirth facilitates regular discussions of care plans before, during, and after delivery for both parents and infants. This structured approach ensures birthing parents feel heard, informed, and actively involved in the decisions surrounding their birth experiences. By promoting transparency and collaboration, TeamBirth helps reduce misunderstandings and improves labor and delivery outcomes, ensuring a more respectful, coordinated, and empowering birth experience.
The United States is the only developed country where maternal mortality is rising instead of falling. Today, people giving birth are about 50% more likely to die from childbirth-related causes than their mothers were. For Black and Indigenous patients, that risk is even worse, at three to four times higher than for White patients. Serious injuries related to childbirth have also increased sharply, and cesarean births without clear benefit to the parent or baby are more common. Breakdowns in communication are one of the biggest reasons these harms happen. In fact, the Joint Commission has found that communication failures contribute to up to 90% of preventable harm in childbirth. TeamBirth is a communication and teamwork process designed to close those gaps, strengthen shared decision-making, and keep the patient at the center of care.
AVH joined the first TeamBirth cohort in New Hampshire in October 2025. TeamBirth implementation in New Hampshire is facilitated and partially funded by the Foundation for Healthy Communities and the NH Perinatal Quality Collaborative, with the goal of ensuring consistent birth experiences across New Hampshire. The first cohort includes AVH, Concord Hospital, MaineHealth Memorial Hospital, Portsmouth Regional Hospital, Southern NH Medical Center, and Wentworth-Douglass Hospital.
To learn more about AVH’s Valley Birthplace and Women’s Services, please visit avhnh.org/practice/valley-birthplace-womens-services/ or call 603-752-2200. To learn more about the TeamBirth initiative in New Hampshire, visit healthynh.org/initiatives/teambirth/.
