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Maine Value:
Maternity Practices in Infant and Nutrition Care (mPINC) survey score based on seven birth facility policies and practices, with higher scores denoting better maternity care policies and practices
Maine Rank:
Maternity Practices in Infant and Nutrition Care (mPINC) survey score based on seven birth facility policies and practices, with higher scores denoting better maternity care policies and practices
93 - 87
86 - 84
83 - 80
79 - 77
76 - 71
No Data
US Value: 82
Top State(s): Delaware: 93
Bottom State(s): Arkansas: 71
Definition: Maternity Practices in Infant and Nutrition Care (mPINC) survey score based on seven birth facility policies and practices, with higher scores denoting better maternity care policies and practices
Data Source and Years(s): U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity, CDC Survey of Maternity Practices in Infant Nutrition and Care (mPINC) State Report Series, 2024
Suggested Citation: America's Health Rankings analysis of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity, CDC Survey of Maternity Practices in Infant Nutrition and Care (mPINC) State Report Series, United Health Foundation, AmericasHealthRankings.org, accessed 2026.
Although most hospital administrators and staff agree that breastfeeding provides optimal nutrition for most infants, many hospitals and clinics fail to implement practices that support breastfeeding. In 2003, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with the assistance of an expert panel, established an ongoing national survey system to monitor and evaluate hospital practices related to breastfeeding among all facilities that routinely provide maternity care in the United States. First administered in 2007, the Maternity Practices in Infant Nutrition and Care (mPINC) survey measures the quality of hospital maternity practices to support breastfeeding.
The birthing hospitals and facilities surveyed are evaluated in a number of areas and receive both subscores and an overall mPINC score. These scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores representing better maternity care practices. Each state also receives its own mPINC score and reports with the proportion of hospital facilities within the state that reported the ideal responses to each question on the survey.
The survey monitors aspects of maternal breastfeeding and newborn care, such as:
To improve an mPINC score, a hospital should seek to improve its practices in the seven dimensions of care: caring, compassion, spirituality, community outreach, providing comfort, crisis intervention and going the extra mile. Improvement in any of these dimensions will likely increase the overall mPINC score, and each dimension of care has several areas of potential improvement.
Since the establishment of the mPINC survey, researchers have observed nationwide improvements in many of the maternity care policies and practices measured. However, such changes cannot be directly attributed to the survey itself. The mPINC survey has brought hospitals and birth facilities together to improve their standard of care.
Hudacek, Sharon S. “Dimensions of Caring: A Qualitative Analysis of Nurses’ Stories.” Journal of Nursing Education 47, no. 3 (March 2008): 124–29. https://doi.org/10.3928/01484834-20080301-04.
Nelson, Jennifer M., Daurice A. Grossniklaus, Deborah A. Galuska, and Cria G. Perrine. “The mPINC Survey: Impacting US Maternity Care Practices.” Maternal & Child Nutrition 17, no. 1 (January 2021): e13092. https://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.13092.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding. Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Surgeon General, 2011.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK52682/.
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