Three Colorado hospitals — including two owned by the UCHealth system — were identified as “not high performing” for its maternity care, according to a study released Tuesday by U.S. News & World Report.

UCHealth officials challenged those findings — and the description.

Those “not high performing” Colorado hospitals are UCHealth Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, UCHealth Greeley and Sky Ridge Medical Center in Lone Tree.

Hospitals with a “high performing” designation met a high standard of care with, for example, newborn complication and C-section rates of 37% and 26%, respectfully, lower than those hospitals not recognized.

Of the 680 hospitals that submitted survey data, 311 received recognition for high-quality maternity care, including 14 in Colorado. Six of the “high performing” Colorado hospitals are in the UCHealth system.

Other top performers included Intermountain Health Saint Joseph Hospital in Denver County and UCHealth Memorial Hospital in El Paso County.

The study relied on a survey conducted in 2021 and a score using the outcomes of eight measures: cesarean, or C-section; delivery rates; early elective delivery rates; overall unexpected newborn complications; vaginal birth after cesarean; breast feeding; episiotomy; transparency on racial and ethnic disparities; and, birthing-friendly practices.

“If you look at the scorecard details, our outcomes are good at each of these hospitals and to say otherwise would be inaccurate,” Kelli Christensen, UCHealth spokesperson, said in an email to The Denver Gazette. “US News & World Report has recently changed their methodologies, which impacts how hospitals and are ranked.”

Christensen also cited concerns about the rankings created by U.S. News & World Report.

In addition to hospitals, U.S. News & World Report also evaluates colleges and graduate schools, healthiest communities, banking, careers and travel, among others.

Following the release of its Best Hospitals report earlier this year — which featured methodology changes — the rankings have been criticized for, among other things, failing to critically analyze “structural racism” in medicine that can perpetuate “health inequities,” as well as the payments U.S. News & World Report receives from hospitals to use its “Best Hospital” badge for marketing.

Linda Watson, a Sky Ridge Medical Center spokesperson, said the ranking does not reflect current care.

“The study you are referencing has data from 2021 and is not reflective of our current statistics,” Watson said in an email.

For example, at the end of 2022 the hospital’s C-section rates were 23.9%, which were “below the national average,” Watson said, noting they were on track for similar results this year.

The hospital also has worked to decrease episiotomies by 50% since that data period, 2021. An episiotomy is a surgical cut during childbirth at the opening of the vagina to help with delivery.

“These actions have all been focused on helping our patients have a safe, healthy delivery,” Watson said. “Sky Ridge continues to be a birth place of choice in the south metro area that honors our patients’ choices.”