BEVERLY — Beverly Hospital administrators have agreed to meet with members of the community to discuss the future of the North Shore Birth Center.

Mother Rebecca Hains, who has been leading a grass-roots campaign to keep the birth center open, said she and four other organizers are arranging to meet with newly appointed interim CEO Henry Ramini and Vice President Chip Payson on the morning of Dec. 2.

"These are not the people who are making the final decision, but I believe Dr. Ramini will be influential in that decision," Hains said.

Ramini has been temporarily leading the hospital for two weeks after former CEO Stephen Laverty resigned following separate no-confidence votes by doctors and nurses. An obstetrician who delivered 5,280 babies during nearly 50 years at the hospital, Ramini strongly supported the creation of the birth center when it opened in 1980.

The North Shore Birth Center is tailored to women with low-risk pregnancies who want to give birth naturally, with no drugs, in a quiet, private setting. It is the first freestanding birth center in the Northeast, and nearly 100 babies a year are born there. The only other center in the state is in Cambridge.

The citizens group has been trying to talk with the board of trustees of Northeast Health System — which owns Beverly Hospital and the birth center — since finding out earlier this month that the hospital may stop allowing births there due to "a significant rise in the cost of malpractice insurance premiums."

Last Tuesday, the board postponed its decision whether to close the center as nearly 100 people picketed outside the hospital. Hains said she hopes the meeting with administrators will shed some light on what community members can do.

"We want to know exactly what the concerns are, and try to find out if they can give us some direction," she said. "What are things we can do to keep it open? Obviously, this is an issue people really care about."

Cost of insurance

Beverly Hospital has said it has seen a rise in malpractice insurance premiums, "as with other centers around the nation," but declined to say through which agency the center is insured, or how much the premiums have gone up.

The costs to cover anything related to obstetrics — from maternity wards to birthing centers — increased by more than 5 percent this year, said Frank Fortin, communications director for the Massachusetts Medical Society.

Because of the liability associated with the high number of insurance claims, birthing is one of the most expensive practices to cover, second only to neurosurgery. While rates vary from state to state, typical coverage in Massachusetts costs about $97,000 per year for obstetrics.

"Rates have always been among the highest and have been rising steadily," Fortin said. He wasn't surprised to learn the North Shore Birth Center was considering closing due to the premiums, and other birth centers across the country have closed for the same reason.

But Kitty Enst, a consultant for the American Association of Birth Centers, said because premiums are going up across the board, it doesn't make sense to single out birth centers.

"Everyone's getting increased prices," she said. "Are they closing the hospital?"

Out of about 195 birth centers, about seven to 10 close each year. But for every one that closes, another one opens, she said. And, falling in line with the whole organic and green movement, more people are opting for a natural birth, and Enst believes birth centers are starting to grow as a result.

"Birth centers in general are growing because there's a rising tide going on in how we birth," she said. "It's giving women back control of their birth experience."

As natural births become more popular, she suspects centers will be in high demand.

"Beverly ought to slow down," she said. "They may be giving up the best thing they got."

Local organizers hope it won't come down to that.

Beverly mother Christa Terry said the campaign wants to work with the hospital and is brainstorming fundraising ideas to support the birth center financially. Organizers are also talking about forming a nonprofit, "so we would have continued support for the birth center," she said.

They've discussed the possibility of taking over the center if it were to close.

"But that would be as very big step," Terry said. "It's a seriously long-term thought and one of many ideas on the table.

First, Hains said, the group wants to focus on its meeting with administrators to better understand the reasons behind wanting to close the center.

"We're going to try to get some answers there," she said.

Cate Lecuyer can be reached at clecuyer@gloucestertimes.com.