Hospitals to give birth in Santa Cruz, CA
4 hospitals within 20 miles of Santa Cruz meet the Birthing-Friendly criteria from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Compare their CMS star ratings, what patients said in Medicare's survey, and how far each one is from central Santa Cruz, then take the tour questions below with you.
Birthing-Friendly hospitals near Santa Cruz, CA
-
Dominican Hospital
Santa Cruz · 2.8 mi away
- CMS rating
- 4/5
- Patient survey
- 4/5
- Would recommend
- 68%
1555 Soquel Drive, Santa Cruz, CA 95065 (831) 462-7700 -
Watsonville Community Hospital
Watsonville · 13.6 mi away
- CMS rating
- 2/5
- Patient survey
- 3/5
- Would recommend
- 66%
75 Nielson Street, Watsonville, CA 95076 (831) 724-4741 -
Good Samaritan Hospital
San Jose · 19.8 mi away
- CMS rating
- 2/5
- Patient survey
- 2/5
- Would recommend
- 67%
2425 Samaritan Drive, San Jose, CA 95124 (408) 559-2011 -
Sutter Maternity & Surgery Center of Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz · 3.1 mi away
- CMS rating
- n/a
- Patient survey
- 4/5
- Would recommend
- 85%
2900 Chanticleer Avenue, Santa Cruz, CA 95065 (831) 477-2200
Ratings from CMS Care Compare, updated October 2026. Both ratings cover the whole hospital, not labor and delivery alone.
Doulas near Santa Cruz
A doula supports you through labor and birth at the hospital you choose, and can help you write a birth plan the labor and delivery team can follow.
Questions to ask on a hospital tour
Ratings only go so far. These answers differ between labor and delivery units in Santa Cruz, so ask each hospital on your shortlist, on a tour or over the phone.
- How many support people can be with me in labor, and does a doula count toward that limit?
- What is your cesarean rate for first-time mothers with a low-risk, full-term, head-down baby (the NTSV rate)?
- What level is your NICU, and which babies do you transfer to another hospital?
- Are midwives on staff, and can they attend my birth if my OB is not on call?
- Is an anesthesiologist in the hospital around the clock for epidurals?
- Do you support laboring in water, wireless monitoring and moving around during labor?
- Does my baby stay in my room, and when can I see a lactation consultant?
- Do you offer a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) if I have had a C-section before?
How this list is sorted
Every hospital here meets the CMS Birthing-Friendly designation: it reports taking part in a statewide or national perinatal quality improvement program and using that program's recommended safety practices. The designation is self-reported and most hospitals that deliver babies hold it, so treat it as a baseline, not a ranking.
We sort by the CMS overall hospital star rating, then by the patient survey star rating, then by distance. The overall rating combines mortality, safety, readmission, patient experience and timely care across the whole hospital. The survey rating comes from patients' answers to Medicare's HCAHPS survey about their stay.
CMS does not yet publish cesarean or severe complication rates for each hospital, so ask the hospitals on your shortlist for theirs.