Bill > SB871

This bill modifies the Pregnancy-Associated Mortality Review Board, a state entity within the department of health and senior services tasked with improving data collection and reporting on maternal deaths, which are defined as the death of a woman while pregnant or within one year after pregnancy ends, regardless of the cause. The bill expands the board's membership from a maximum of eighteen to twenty-two members, ensuring a more diverse and multidisciplinary representation including various medical specialties, public health officials, and individuals affected by maternal mortality and limited access to maternal healthcare, with at least one member from each congressional district and demographic diversity. It also clarifies the definition of "maternity care deserts" as counties with limited or absent maternity care services, including those without hospitals or birth centers offering obstetric care and without obstetric clinicians. The board's duties are expanded to include identifying maternity care deserts, reviewing medical records and other relevant data to identify maternal deaths from various pregnancy outcomes, examining racial and social disparities in maternal deaths, and developing recommendations to address these inequities, including community-driven strategies and barriers to care. Furthermore, the bill allows for voluntary and confidential case reporting of maternal deaths by family members and others, makes the board's contact information publicly available for reporting, and mandates that the board's annual report to state and federal officials, the governor, and the general assembly include data disaggregated by race, ethnicity, language, nationality, age, zip code, the presence of maternity care deserts, and the level and timing of prenatal and postnatal care, while protecting privacy. The bill also strengthens confidentiality protections for all information collected and reviewed by the board, ensuring it is not admissible as evidence in legal proceedings, and allows the department to use grant funds and accept various other moneys to support the board's efforts.

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https://www.senate.mo.gov/26info/BTS_Web/Bill.aspx?SessionType=R&BillID=632