12/13/2025
December 2025
Florida Licensed Midwives Achieve Exceptional Maternal and Newborn Outcomes, Annual Report Shows
TALLAHASSEE, FL - The Florida
Department of Health has released the
2024 Florida Licensed Midwives Annual Report, highlighting the outstanding safety and quality of care provided by licensed midwives (LMs) across the state. The report shows that licensed midwives achieve fetal mortality rates nearly nine times lower than the Florida state average, along with excellent maternal and newborn outcomes.
In 2024, licensed midwives cared for 6,172 people in Florida. Planned licensed midwife attended births totaled 3,332, with intrapartum transfers to htals occurring in 12.8 percent of cases, reflecting the national average for low-risk births in birth center settings. Postpartum maternal transfers were rare at 2.2 percent, newborn transfers occurred in only 1.5 percent of cases. Vaginal births after cesarean (VBAC) accounted for 6.1 percent of the births. Among planned licensed midwife births, 43.4 percent were waterbirths, reflecting the strong preference for this evidence-based, highly effective form of non-pharmacologic pain
management that is not an option in most Florida hospitals.
