Bill Text: NY A09140 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced
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Bill Title: Establishes fetal and infant mortality review boards to study fetal and infant mortality and morbidity and make recommendations on policies, best practices, and strategies to reduce fetal and infant mortality and morbidity.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-05-30 - print number 9140b [A09140 Detail]
Download: New_York-2023-A09140-Introduced.html
Bill Title: Establishes fetal and infant mortality review boards to study fetal and infant mortality and morbidity and make recommendations on policies, best practices, and strategies to reduce fetal and infant mortality and morbidity.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-05-30 - print number 9140b [A09140 Detail]
Download: New_York-2023-A09140-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 9140 IN ASSEMBLY February 8, 2024 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. JACKSON -- read once and referred to the Commit- tee on Health AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to establishing a fetal infant mortality review board The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The public health law is amended by adding a new section 2 2509-b to read as follows: 3 § 2509-b. Fetal infant mortality review board. 1. As used in this 4 section, unless the context requires otherwise: 5 (a) "Board" means a fetal infant mortality review board established by 6 this section, referred to in this section as the "state board", or a 7 board operating under this section established by the city of New York, 8 with or without an agreement with the commissioner, referred to in this 9 section as the "city board". 10 (b) "Fetal infant death" means fetal, neonatal, and infant deaths 11 within one year of birth. 12 (c) "Severe fetal infant morbidity" or "morbidity" means unexpected 13 outcomes of pregnancy, labor, or delivery that result in significant 14 short- or long-term consequences to a child's health. 15 (d) "City commissioner" means the commissioner of the New York city 16 department of health and mental hygiene. 17 2. (a) There is hereby established in the department the fetal infant 18 mortality review board for the purpose of reviewing fetal infant deaths 19 and fetal infant morbidity and developing and disseminating findings, 20 recommendations, and best practices to contribute to the prevention of 21 fetal infant mortality and morbidity. The board shall assess the cause 22 of death, factors leading to death and preventability for each fetal 23 infant death reviewed and, in the discretion of the board, cases of 24 severe fetal infant morbidity, and shall develop and disseminate strate- 25 gies for reducing the risk of fetal infant mortality and morbidity, 26 including risk resulting from racial, economic, or other disparities. 27 The commissioner may delegate the authority to conduct maternal mortal- 28 ity reviews. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD10339-01-3A. 9140 2 1 (b) The commissioner may enter into an agreement with the city of New 2 York providing: 3 (i) that the functions of the state board relating to fetal infant 4 deaths and severe fetal infant morbidity occurring within the city of 5 New York shall be conducted by the city board; 6 (ii) the city board shall provide to the state board the results of 7 its reviews, relevant information in the possession of the city board, 8 and the recommendations of the city board; and 9 (iii) the department and the state board shall provide information and 10 assistance to the city board for the performance of its functions. 11 (c) Nothing in this section shall prevent the city of New York from 12 establishing, without an agreement with the commissioner, a board relat- 13 ing to fetal infant deaths and severe fetal infant morbidity occurring 14 within the city of New York. 15 3. (a) The members of the state board shall be comprised of multidis- 16 ciplinary experts in the field of fetal infant mortality, fetal, neona- 17 tal and infant health and public health, and shall include health care 18 professionals or other experts who serve and are representative of the 19 racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic diversity of the state and, to the 20 extent possible, the medically underserved areas of the state or areas 21 of the state with disproportionately high occurrences of fetal infant 22 mortality or morbidity. 23 (b) The state board shall be composed of at least fifteen members, all 24 of whom shall be appointed by the commissioner. 25 (c) The terms of the state board members shall be three years. The 26 commissioner may choose to reappoint state board members to additional 27 three-year terms. 28 (d) A majority of the appointed membership of the state board, but no 29 less than three, shall constitute a quorum. 30 (e) When any member of the state board fails to attend three consec- 31 utive regular meetings, unless good cause is shown for such absence, 32 that membership may be deemed vacant for purposes of the appointment of 33 a successor. 34 (f) Meetings of the state board shall be held at least twice a year 35 but may be held more frequently as deemed necessary, subject to request 36 of the department. 37 (g) Members of the state and city boards shall be indemnified under 38 section seventeen of the public officers law or section fifty-k of the 39 general municipal law, as the case may be. 40 (h) Members of the state board shall not be compensated for their 41 participation on the board but shall receive reimbursement for their 42 ordinary and necessary expenses of participation. 43 (i) Membership on a board shall not disqualify any person from holding 44 any public office or employment. 45 4. (a) The commissioner may request and shall receive upon request 46 from any department, division, board, bureau, commission, local health 47 departments or other agency of the state or political subdivision there- 48 of or any public authority, such information, including but not limited 49 to death records, medical records, autopsy reports, toxicology reports, 50 hospital discharge records, birth records and any other information that 51 will help the department under this section to properly carry out its 52 functions, powers and duties. The commissioner, or the city commissioner 53 for the fetal infant deaths or fetal infant morbidity occurring within 54 the vital statistics registration district of the city of New York, may 55 request and shall receive upon request from any department, division, 56 board, commission or other agency under the authority of the city of NewA. 9140 3 1 York as well as hospitals established pursuant to article twenty-eight 2 of this chapter, birthing facilities, medical examiners, coroners and 3 coroner physicians and any other facility providing services associated 4 with fetal infant mortality or fetal infant morbidity, such information, 5 including, but not limited to, death records, medical records, autopsy 6 reports, toxicology reports, hospital discharge records, birth records 7 and any other information that will help the department under this 8 section to properly carry out its functions, powers and duties. 9 (b) The commissioner and the city commissioner shall receive and may 10 solicit voluntary information, including oral or written statements, 11 relating to any fetal infant death and case of severe fetal infant 12 morbidity, from any family member or other interested party relating to 13 any case that may come before the board. Oral statements received under 14 this paragraph shall be transcribed or summarized in writing. The 15 commissioner and the city commissioner shall transmit that information 16 to the board considering the case. 17 (c) Before transmitting any information to the board, the commissioner 18 or the city commissioner shall remove all personal identifying informa- 19 tion of the fetus or infant, parent's of the fetus or infant, health 20 care practitioner or practitioners, or anyone else individually named in 21 such information, as well as the hospital or facility that treated the 22 fetus or infant, and any other information such as geographic location 23 that may inadvertently identify the fetus or infant, practitioner, or 24 facility. This paragraph shall not preclude the transmitting of infor- 25 mation to the board that is reasonably necessary to enable the board to 26 perform an appropriate review under this section. 27 5. Each board: 28 (a) shall collect and perform case reviews of fetal and infant deaths; 29 (b) shall make and report findings and recommendations to the commis- 30 sioner, and in the case of the city board to the commissioner and the 31 city commissioner regarding the cause of death, factors leading to 32 death, and preventability of each fetal infant death case, and each case 33 of severe fetal infant morbidity reviewed by the board, by reviewing 34 relevant information for each case in the state or the city of New York, 35 as the case may be, and consulting with experts as needed to evaluate 36 the information for each death; 37 (c) shall develop and deliver to the commissioner, and in the case of 38 the city board to the commissioner and the city commissioner for areas 39 of focus, recommendations on: 40 (i) issues of severe fetal infant morbidity; 41 (ii) addressing social determinants of fetal infant health, including 42 racial, economic or other historical and contemporary injustices which 43 lead to disparities in fetal infant outcomes; 44 (iii) policies, best practices, and strategies to reduce fetal infant 45 mortality and morbidity; 46 (iv) methods of improving services and resources; and 47 (v) methods of implementing continuous quality improvement in fetal 48 infant mortality and morbidity; 49 (d) shall issue an annual public report on its findings and recommen- 50 dations and may also issue public reports more frequently; 51 (e) shall implement needs assessment, quality assurance and policy 52 development at the local level, which are essential to public health 53 functions; 54 (f) shall identify and address systemic community conditions contrib- 55 uting to fetal infant deaths;A. 9140 4 1 (g) shall implement a surveillance system to monitor incidence, etiol- 2 ogies, and contributing factors and which can describe effects of health 3 care system change; 4 (h) shall identify system wide challenges to improving fetal infant 5 health care; 6 (i) shall assess, plan, improve, and monitor the service systems and 7 community resources that support and promote the health and well-being 8 of women, fetuses, infants, and families; 9 (j) may, in addition to the findings and recommendations made under 10 this subdivision, and consistent with all applicable confidentiality 11 protections, bring any particular matter to the attention of the commis- 12 sioner or the city commissioner, and in the case of the city board to 13 the commissioner and the city commissioner; and 14 (k) may request and shall receive the assistance of the commissioner 15 in the instance of the state board and the city commissioner in the 16 instance of the city board in carrying out its functions. 17 6. The commissioner and the city commissioner and the state and city 18 boards shall each keep confidential any information collected or 19 received under this section that includes personal identifying informa- 20 tion of the fetus or infant, fetus or infant's parents, health care 21 practitioner or practitioners, or anyone else individually named in such 22 information, as well as the hospital or facility that treated the fetus 23 or infant, and any other information such as geographic location that 24 may inadvertently identify the fetus or infant, the fetus or infant's 25 parents, practitioner, or facility, and shall use the information 26 provided or received under this section solely for the purposes of 27 improvement of the quality of fetal infant health care and to prevent 28 fetal infant mortality and morbidity. This subdivision shall not 29 preclude the transmitting of information to the board that is reasonably 30 necessary to enable the board to perform an appropriate review under 31 this section. All records received, meetings conducted, reports, except 32 those public reports required to be issued by the board by this section, 33 and records made and maintained and all books and papers obtained by the 34 board shall be confidential and shall not be made open or available, 35 including under article six of the public officers law, and shall be 36 limited to board members as well as those authorized by the commissioner 37 or city commissioner. Such information shall not be discoverable or 38 admissible as evidence in any action in any court or before any other 39 tribunal, board, agency or person. 40 7. The commissioner and the city commissioner, within their respective 41 legal authority, may use the recommendations and findings of the boards 42 to develop guidance and other actions relating to best practices, and 43 shall disseminate information relating to that guidance and other 44 actions to appropriate health care providers. 45 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
