Provide the Maternal Mortality Review Committee with Records

Updates the part of the Code of Georgia about the Department of Public Health  

• Code of Georgia: These are the rules or laws for the state of Georgia that say what people in Georgia can and cannot do.

• Department of Public Health: A government office that helps keep people healthy by making sure hospitals, doctors, and other health services follow safety rules.

If this bill is passed, it will make healthcare providers, spaces, and pharmacies share people’s mental health information with the Maternal Mortality Review Committee

• Maternal Mortality Review Committee: A group of experts that look at times where pregnant people or new birthing parents have died to find ways to stop future deaths.

Sets up the Regional Perinatal Center Advisory Committee, which is a group of people that helps decide if Georgia has enough special hospitals to care for pregnant women and newborn babies. They give advice on where new centers should go or if any changes are needed.  

Hospitals that want to be marked as a regional perinatal center need to give the Department of Public Health certain information that shows they fit the requirements.

• Regional perinatal center:  A special hospital that helps people providing healthcare work together in a specific area to make sure parents and babies get the right amount of care.

The Department of Public Health has to create a plan for these regional perinatal centers every four years  

If passed, this bill will change part of the rules in Georgia so the Maternal Mortality Review Committee can see medical paperwork of patients who have died

It will also get rid of the rule that for questions for health professionals who give medical tests about pregnant women who have died, have to go through a regional perinatal center first.

If this bill becomes law, it gets rid of any other laws that could stop this one from working. 

Updates part of the Georgia rules about the Maternal Mortality Review Committee  

People and places who provide healthcare, like doctors, nurses, hospitals, and pharmacies, must let the Maternal Mortality Review Committee see medical paperwork related to the cases they are working on in no more than 30 days unless the state or federal law says something else.  

People who provide healthcare who are sharing paperwork in good faith are not at risk of getting in trouble with the law.

This bill, if passed, creates a new part of the Georgia code that defines important words about caring for birthing parents and babies.   

 This new part also creates the Regional Perinatal Center Advisory Committee, a special group that makes recommendations to the Commissioner of Public Health about adding, cutting back, or changing regional perinatal centers

• Commissioner of Public Health: The leader of the Department of Public Health who makes decisions about health programs and policies in Georgia.

• The Advisory Committee makes suggestions to the Commissioner about how much money to expect these changes to cost.

• The advisory committee will have 11 to 21 members chosen by the Commissioner of Public Health  

  • One member is picked as a leader of the group, which is called the “chairperson”  

• Members serve for four-years at a time and can be chosen to continue as part of the group after four years  

• Meetings will happen whenever needed, as decided by the chairperson  

• Testing how it’s going and suggestions on what can be approved will start July 1, 2026, and take place every 4 years, and must be shared with the big state leaders in Georgia.

  • The plan must include what money is needed to:  

    • Help hospitals meet perinatal center standards  

    • Ongoing support like patient care, education, training, and building improvements  

The Department of Public Health and committee must look at and suggest improvements for perinatal care

• Perinatal Care: The checkups, tests, and treatments a pregnant person gets from a doctor or nurse to help keep both the parent and baby healthy before birth.

The test will check:  

• If hospitals can get birthing parents and babies to stable health before they're moved  

• If the people caring for pregnant people and the regional perinatal centers are working together.

• If high-risk pregnancies are properly brought to the centers  

• If there's enough transportation for high-risk birthing parents and babies, taking into consideration:  

  • The distance and travel time to perinatal centers  

  • Types of vehicles available for transportation.

  • Need for more or better vehicles  

  • If each regional perinatal center offers:  

    • Check ins and transportation support for high-risk birthing parents  

    • Follow-up care for birthing parents and babies  

    • Education and training for places that provide healthcare to a whole region.

    • Data collection and analysis on perinatal outcomes  

    • Coordination of perinatal health services  

If changes to regional perinatal centers get a “yes”, the Department of Public Health has to ask the Office of Planning and Budget for the money they need before the next General Assembly session.

• Office of planning and budget: A state office that helps decide how Georgia spends money on important programs, like hospitals and schools.

• General Assembly Session: A time when Georgia’s lawmakers meet to make decisions and create new state laws.    

Hospitals wanting to be a regional perinatal center must let the Department of Public Health know:  

• How they can meet the set rules  

• Any extra money they need to meet those rules  

• Any issues in their area, like transportation problems or space shortages  

• What perinatal care services they already provide  

• What other services they can offer to local hospitals  

• Any other info the Department of Public Health asks for    

The Department of Public Health can create rules to achieve the goals of this bill. These goals include 

• Changing part of the Georgia Code about sharing medical information 

• Letting medical records of dead patients be shared with the Maternal Mortality Review Committee  

• Keeping patients private information protected.