Measures to Improve Black Maternal Health Equity

     The bill requires measures to improve equity in maternal health, including:

• Requiring the Colorado medical board to consider, as part of its stakeholder process for continuing medical education, a requirement that a physician nurse, or nurse aide whose primary practice is in the area of obstetrics to complete at least one continuing medical education credit hour on the topic of cultural competence and equity in maternal care;
• Requiring the state board of nursing rules relating to continuing education to include rules relating to health-care provider attention to cultural competence and equity in providing health-care services;
• Authorizing the department of public health and environment (CDPHE), subject to available appropriations, to provide a health survey to all additional birthing parents, beyond those currently surveyed, and to compile the data;
• Requiring a health facility that provides labor and childbirth services to publicly display in birthing areas make available to a birthing parent and a birthing parent's companion, electronically or in writing, a statement on respectful maternity care regarding principles rights and components, including freedom from harm, privacy and confidentiality, informed consent, and allowing a birthing parent to have a birthing companion present at the birth, and to make available information, including telephone contact information, for the appropriate state or federal agency to receive a complaint that alleges discrimination in labor and childbirth services;
• Subject to available federal grant funding for the requiring that the maternal health task force established by CDPHE, ensuring that the maternal health task force includes at least one Black maternal health advocate; and
• Requiring CDPHE to report annually to the general assembly rather than every 3 years concerning maternal health outcomes and equity, including outcomes for Black birthing parents and suspected or known causes of any disparate outcomes for Black birthing parents.

      In addition, the bill requires a health facility to report to CDPHE incidents of severe maternal morbidity or death of a birthing parent for which there is reasonable cause for the health facility to believe that racial discrimination, implicit or explicit bias, negligent clinical decision-making, denial of care, or other inequitable treatment (discriminatory or negligent misconduct) contributed to the severe maternal morbidity or death. CDPHE is required to investigate such incidents and report to the applicable regulatory board (regulator) if the investigation reveals that a health-care practitioner may have engaged in the discriminatory or negligent misconduct.

      In addition to other penalties, the bill authorizes a regulator to impose and collect monetary penalties against a health-care practitioner that is found to have engaged in the discriminatory or negligent misconduct that led to severe maternal morbidity or death.

      If a health facility has engaged in discriminatory practices, failed to follow evidence-based standards of obstetric care, or refused to act on known symptoms that resulted in severe maternal morbidity or death, CDPHE may revoke or suspend the health facility's license and impose and collect a monetary penalty of up to $250,000 per violation.

      Those monetary penalties are deposited into the maternal health equity improvement fund created in the bill and will be used to provide support to families after preventable severe maternal morbidity or death and for other activities that are intended to reduce adverse maternal health outcomes.

      The bill requires CDPHE's office of health equity to report aggregated and de-identified data concerning the incidents of discriminatory or negligent misconduct that resulted in preventable severe maternal morbidity or death.

(Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.)
(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)