Starting next week, women recovering from cesarean-section deliveries at Ogden Regional Medical Center will enjoy eight new rooms designed for them -- providing a more home-like place for their typically longer recovery periods.

"The more we can do to individualize the care for that patient, I think, the better care they'll have," said Jon Ahlstrom, the center's division chief of obstetrics and gynecology.

What the state-of-the-art facility isn't designed to do: increase the number of pregnant women who elect to give birth via C-section surgeries, which have higher costs and higher risks of complications for mothers and infants. Across Utah, hospitals' first-time C-section rates averaged 9.8 percent in 2008, according to a report released Thursday by the Utah Department of Health.

A woman was six times more likely to have a cesarean delivery at St. Mark's Hospital in Salt Lake County than at Fillmore Community Medical Center. And women were six times more likely to have such a delivery at Kane County Hospital than Dixie Regional Medical Center in St. George.

Larger hospitals with higher-level services, like University of Utah, Intermountain Medical Center and Ogden Regional, likely have higher rates because they see sicker patients that would require a C-section, says Lois Bloebaum, the health department's reproductive health program manager.

But she also attributes high rates to women and doctors who want to induce labor for convenience or for "perverse" financial incentives. "It's more lucrative for a provider to perform a C-section than a vaginal birth," she noted.

She said the state plans to do a better job educating women about the risks of having their labor induced. Induced labor increases the likelihood of a C-section delivery.

Public health officials want to keep the numbers of C-sections low because, compared to vaginal deliveries, they have higher risks of hemorrhage, infection, postpartum depression and placental problems in future pregnancies. For the baby, complications can include difficulty initiating breastfeeding, lacerations and respiratory problems, according to the health department.

Frederick Gonzalez, director of high-risk pregnancies at Dixie Regional, believes his hospital's rule against elective inductions before the last week of pregnancy is why its C-section rate is so low, at 3.8 percent.

"Pretty much we've gotten rid of elective inductions," he said. "When you get rid of that, it [C-sections] really goes down."

But Heber Valley Medical Center has the same rule, since both hospitals are part of Intermountain Healthcare., and its rate is 14.6 percent. Spokeswoman Amy Tuddenham said the C-sections were reviewed and all were done to protect the health of the mother or baby.

Ahlstrom said he hasn't seen custom C-section rooms in other hospitals in the nation, and he doesn't expect them to raise Ogden Regional's rate.

Both Ogden Regional and the University Medical Center describe their first-time C-section rates -- 11.7 percent and 14.9 percent, respectively -- as a result of their higher volume and the likelihood of having high-risk patients.

But the hospitals have sharply contrasting rates of women who have a vaginal birth after an earlier C-section.

At Ogden Regional, 7.6 percent of newborns are delivered vaginally from a mother who has previously had a C-section. At University Medical Center, the vaginal birth after C-section (VBAC) rate is 29.4 percent. The state average is 16.6 percent.

Those VBAC rates have been decreasing since the mid-'90s as C-section numbers have increased. There are complications with VBACs, such as having the earlier C-section wounds reopened, but VBACs also bypass the risks associated with C-sections.

"We do not force [patients] to have the vaginal delivery, nor force them to have the cesarean," said Carol Hadlock, the center's director of quality and patient safety, of doctors letting patients know the options available to them, "... but we feel good because we're giving them that choice and that our outcomes are excellent."

The positive results, Hadlock said, are the low instances of birth complications.

Ogden Regional's Ahlstrom said his facility might not have the resources -- a doctor on stand-by during a VBAC who can respond if a C-section is needed -- that a university hospital with residency students might have. But the Ogden facility works to inform patients of their options and risks.

"I'm more concerned making sure each of our patients has the right care than making sure we have the right number [of C-sections]," Ahlstrom said. "I'm not sure what that number is."