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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KTXL) — The Greater Sacramento region won four mentions in a 2021 list of Best Maternity Hospitals.

Of those four hospitals, two of them are in Sacramento: UC Davis Medical Center and Kaiser Permanente South Sacramento Medical Center. The other two hospitals, which are also part of Kaiser Permanente, are in Roseville and Vacaville.

The list released by Newsweek, along with The Leapfrog Group, says hospitals were mentioned if they met “Leapfrog’s high standards for safety and quality of maternity care.”

Nationally, about 700 women die every year as a result of pregnancy or delivery complications, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

In California, maternal mortality rates have decreased. Between 2006 to 2013, California’s rate of maternal mortality dropped by 55%.

But research done for the California Pregnancy-Associated Mortality Review showed some disparities. 

According to the research, Black women are only 5% of the state’s birthing population but make up 21% of pregnancy-related deaths in the state.

California has moved to address the inequities of maternal care for Black mothers and infants in recent years. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill in 2019 that requires implicit bias training for perinatal providers involved in services at hospitals and birth centers.

Aside from the Greater Sacramento region, California was mentioned 34 times in the list, making up about 16% of the 217 entries.