Temple Women and Families Hospital Marks First Year With 12.5 Percent Jump in Deliveries
PHILADELPHIA — Temple Women and Families Hospital delivered 2,054 babies in its first year, a 12.5 percent increase that suggests the North Philadelphia hospital is winning back expectant mothers who once left the neighborhood to give birth.
The hospital opened Sept. 3, 2025, at 1331 E. Wyoming Ave., taking over labor and delivery from Temple University Hospital’s main campus. In fiscal 2026, the share of Temple prenatal patients who delivered at a Temple facility climbed from 62 percent to 82 percent, according to the Philadelphia Business Journal.
Outpatient obstetrics and gynecology visits surged 72 percent in the same period, a sign that the $62.6 million facility is drawing patients well beyond the delivery room.
The hospital was designed around family-centered care, with 32 private maternity rooms, 13 labor rooms and a 41-bed neonatal intensive care unit. A new direct referral unit handled 1,495 patients in its first year.
“When we opened Temple Women and Families, it wasn’t simply about moving labor and delivery from one building to another,” said Dr. Tanise Branche, a Temple obstetrics and gynecology clinical leader. “It really represented an opportunity for us to rethink how we care for women and families.”
The investment runs counter to a regional trend. Thirteen of 19 maternity programs in the Philadelphia area have closed since 1997, creating what Temple Health’s chief financial officer has called a regional access crisis, with infant mortality in poor communities running three times the national average.
Hospital leaders say the next phase will expand behavioral health services and improve care for high-risk pregnancies. Community health workers already shepherd mothers from the first prenatal visit through a year after delivery, with help for issues like postpartum depression.
“The North Star for us is reducing maternal morbidity, reducing preterm births and making a difference in the health of the community,” Branche said.