Bill Text: NY S06045 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Establishes a fetal and infant mortality review board 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 within New York city.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-06-07 - COMMITTED TO RULES [S06045 Detail]
Download: New_York-2023-S06045-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 6045--A 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN SENATE March 27, 2023 ___________ Introduced by Sens. BAILEY, FERNANDEZ, JACKSON -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Cities 1 -- recommitted to the Committee on Health in accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to establishing a fetal and 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 administrative code of the city of New York is amended 2 by adding a new section 17-166.1 to read as follows: 3 § 17-166.1 Fetal and infant mortality review board. a. For the 4 purposes of this section, unless the context requires otherwise: 5 (1) "Review board" means the fetal and infant mortality review board 6 established by this section. 7 (2) "Fetal and infant death" means pregnancy loss that ends in miscar- 8 riage or stillbirth, or infant deaths within one year of birth. 9 (3) "Severe fetal and infant morbidity" or "morbidity" means unantic- 10 ipated outcomes of pregnancy, labor, or delivery that result in signif- 11 icant short- or long-term consequences to a child's health. 12 b. There is hereby established in the department the fetal and infant 13 mortality review board for the purpose of reviewing fetal and infant 14 deaths and fetal and infant morbidity and developing and disseminating 15 findings, recommendations, and best practices to contribute to the 16 prevention of fetal and infant mortality and morbidity. The review board 17 shall assess the cause of death, factors leading to death and preventa- 18 bility for each fetal and infant death reviewed and, in the discretion 19 of the review board, cases of severe fetal and infant morbidity, and 20 shall develop and disseminate strategies for reducing the risk of fetal 21 and infant mortality and morbidity, including risk resulting from EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD10351-02-4S. 6045--A 2 1 racial, economic, or other disparities. The commissioner may delegate 2 the authority to conduct fetal and infant mortality reviews. 3 c. (1) The members of the review board shall be comprised of multidis- 4 ciplinary experts in the field of fetal and infant mortality, fetal, 5 neonatal and infant health and public health, maternal health, obstet- 6 rics and gynecology, and shall include health care professionals or 7 other experts who serve and are representative of the racial, ethnic, 8 and socioeconomic diversity of the city of New York and, to the extent 9 possible, the medically underserved areas of the city of New York or 10 areas of the city of New York with disproportionately high occurrences 11 of fetal and infant mortality or morbidity. 12 (2) The review board shall be composed of nine members, all of whom 13 shall be appointed by the commissioner. 14 (3) The terms of the review board members shall be three years. The 15 commissioner may choose to reappoint review board members to additional 16 three-year terms. 17 (4) A majority of the appointed membership of the review board, but no 18 less than five, shall constitute a quorum. 19 (5) When any member of the review board fails to attend three consec- 20 utive regular meetings, unless good cause is shown for such absence, 21 that membership may be deemed vacant for purposes of the appointment of 22 a successor. 23 (6) Meetings of the review board shall be held at least twice a year 24 but may be held more frequently as deemed necessary, subject to request 25 of the department. 26 (7) Members of the review board shall be indemnified under section 27 seventeen of the public officers law or section fifty-k of the general 28 municipal law, as the case may be. 29 (8) Members of the review board shall not be compensated for their 30 participation on the review board but shall receive reimbursement for 31 their ordinary and necessary expenses of participation. 32 (9) Membership on the review board shall not disqualify any person 33 from holding any public office or employment. 34 d. (1) The commissioner may request and shall receive upon request 35 from any department, division, board, bureau, commission, local health 36 department or other agency of the state or political subdivision thereof 37 or any public authority, such information, including but not limited to 38 death records, medical records, autopsy reports, toxicology reports, 39 hospital discharge records, birth records and any other information that 40 will help the department under this section to properly carry out its 41 functions, powers and duties. The commissioner may request and shall 42 receive upon request from any department, division, board, commission or 43 other agency under the authority of the city of New York as well as 44 hospitals established pursuant to article twenty-eight of the public 45 health law, birthing facilities, medical examiners, coroners and coroner 46 physicians and any other facility providing services associated with 47 fetal and infant mortality or fetal and infant morbidity, such informa- 48 tion, including, but not limited to, death records, medical records, 49 autopsy reports, toxicology reports, hospital discharge records, birth 50 records and any other information that will help the department under 51 this section to properly carry out its functions, powers and duties. 52 (2) The commissioner shall receive and may solicit voluntary informa- 53 tion, including oral or written statements, relating to any fetal and 54 infant death and case of severe fetal and infant morbidity, from any 55 family member or other interested party relating to any case that may 56 come before the review board. Oral statements received under this para-S. 6045--A 3 1 graph shall be transcribed or summarized in writing. The commissioner 2 shall transmit that information to the review board considering the 3 case. 4 (3) Before transmitting any information to the review board, the 5 commissioner shall remove all personal identifying information of the 6 fetus or infant, individuals experiencing pregnancy loss or parents of 7 the infant, health care practitioner or practitioners, or anyone else 8 individually named in such information, as well as the hospital or 9 facility that treated the fetus or infant, and any other information 10 such as geographic location that may inadvertently identify the fetus or 11 infant, fetus or infant's family, practitioner, or facility. 12 (4) Information received or transmitted under this section is not 13 admissible in any civil, administrative, criminal, or family court 14 proceeding that seeks to punish or prosecute the pregnant or birthing 15 person and shall not be used as a basis of a report to the Statewide 16 Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment. 17 e. The review board: 18 (1) shall collect and perform case reviews of fetal and infant deaths; 19 (2) shall make and report findings and recommendations to the commis- 20 sioner regarding the cause of death, factors leading to death, and 21 preventability of each fetal or infant death case, and each case of 22 severe fetal or infant morbidity reviewed by the review board, by 23 reviewing relevant information for each case in the city of New York and 24 consulting with experts as needed to evaluate the information for each 25 death provided that no information which, alone or in combination, would 26 permit an individual who experienced a pregnancy loss or infant death to 27 be identified may be requested or shared with consulting experts, and 28 that information reviewed or findings made by the board shall not be 29 admissible in any civil, administrative, criminal, or family court 30 proceeding and shall not be used as a basis of a report to the Statewide 31 Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment; 32 (3) shall develop and deliver to the commissioner recommendations on: 33 (A) issues of severe fetal and infant morbidity; 34 (B) addressing social determinants of fetal and infant health, includ- 35 ing racial, economic or other historical and contemporary injustices 36 which lead to disparities in fetal and infant outcomes; 37 (C) policies, best practices, and strategies to reduce fetal and 38 infant mortality and morbidity; 39 (D) methods of improving services and resources; and 40 (E) methods of implementing continuous quality improvement in fetal 41 and infant mortality and morbidity; 42 (4) shall issue an annual public report on its findings and recommen- 43 dations and may also issue public reports more frequently; 44 (5) shall identify and address systemic community conditions contrib- 45 uting to fetal and infant deaths; 46 (6) shall implement a surveillance system to monitor incidence, etiol- 47 ogies, and contributing factors and which can describe effects of health 48 care system change; 49 (7) shall identify system wide challenges to improving fetal and 50 infant health care; 51 (8) may, in addition to the findings and recommendations made under 52 this subdivision, and consistent with all applicable confidentiality 53 protections, bring any particular matter to the attention of the commis- 54 sioner; and 55 (9) may request and shall receive the assistance of the commissioner 56 in carrying out its functions.S. 6045--A 4 1 f. The commissioner and the review board shall each keep confidential 2 any information collected or received under this section that includes 3 personal identifying information of the fetus or infant, the fetus or 4 infant's parents, health care practitioner or practitioners, or anyone 5 else individually named in such information, as well as the hospital or 6 facility that treated the fetus or infant, and any other information 7 such as geographic location that may inadvertently identify the fetus or 8 infant, the fetus or infant's parents, practitioner, or facility, and 9 shall use the information provided or received under this section solely 10 for the purposes of improvement of the quality of fetal and infant 11 health care and to prevent fetal and infant mortality and morbidity. 12 This subdivision shall not preclude the transmitting of information to 13 the review board that is reasonably necessary to enable the review board 14 to perform an appropriate review under this section. All records 15 received, meetings conducted, reports, except those public reports 16 required to be issued by the review board by this section, and records 17 made and maintained and all books and papers obtained by the review 18 board shall be confidential and shall not be made open or available, 19 including under article six of the public officers law, and shall be 20 limited to review board members as well as those authorized by the 21 commissioner. Such information shall not be discoverable or admissible 22 as evidence in any action in any court or before any other tribunal, 23 board, agency or person. 24 g. The commissioner may use the recommendations and findings of the 25 review board to develop guidance and other actions relating to best 26 practices, and shall disseminate information relating to that guidance 27 and other actions to appropriate health care providers. 28 § 2. This act shall take effect one year after it shall have become a 29 law.
