Establishes the cesarean births review board; provides such board shall be comprised of multidisciplinary experts to review the rate of cesarean births at hospitals in the state; provides reporting requirements.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8866
IN SENATE
April 25, 2022
___________
Introduced by Sen. BROUK -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Women's Issues
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to establishing the
cesarean births 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 2500-n to read as follows:
3 § 2500-n. Cesarean births review board. 1. There is hereby established
4 in the department the cesarean births review board, hereinafter referred
5 to as the "board". The members of the board shall be comprised of
6 experts in the fields of maternal mortality, maternal health, and public
7 health. The appointment of any member of the board shall be based in
8 part on the objective of ensuring that the board includes experts who
9 are representative of the racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic diversity of
10 the birthing people of the state.
11 2. The board should be composed of twelve members which shall include
12 eight members to be appointed by the governor as follows: two licensed
13 midwives in the state; two licensed and registered nurses specializing
14 in obstetrics in the state; two physicians specializing in obstetrics
15 and gynecology licensed and registered to practice in the state; and two
16 representatives of a women's maternal health organization that operates
17 in the state; and four additional members, two appointed on the recom-
18 mendation of the temporary president of the senate and two appointed on
19 the recommendation of the speaker of the assembly. The governor shall
20 designate the commissioner, or their designee, as chair of the board.
21 Members of the board shall receive no compensation for their services
22 but may be reimbursed for necessary and actual expenses incurred in the
23 performance of their duties hereunder.
24 3. The board shall undertake a review of cesarean births at hospitals
25 in the state. The board shall issue a final report and make recommenda-
26 tions to reduce the rate of cesarean births in the state. The board
27 shall consider factors including, but not limited to:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD15208-05-2
S. 8866 2
1 (a) the primary and repeat cesarean birth rates among hospitals in the
2 state;
3 (b) the hospitals in the state that allow or encourage vaginal births
4 after cesarean births;
5 (c) the rate of vaginal births after cesarean births among hospitals
6 in the state;
7 (d) the rate of vaginal births after cesarean births that were offered
8 by hospitals in the state but declined by the birthing person;
9 (e) the rate of vaginal births after cesarean births that were
10 attempted but failed among hospitals in the state;
11 (f) the time of day unplanned cesarean births occur in hospitals, and
12 whether such correlates with the rate of cesarean births in a hospital;
13 (g) the number of birthing people who elect to have midwives attend
14 labor and delivery in hospitals in the state;
15 (h) the frequency of midwifery care during labor in hospitals across
16 the state and what impact, if any, this has on the rate of cesarean
17 births; and
18 (i) the number of birthing people who were informed by their health
19 care provider about the potential risks, benefits, and alternatives
20 related to cesarean births before labor.
21 4. The board may request and shall receive upon request from any
22 department, division, board, bureau, commission, local health depart-
23 ments or any other agency in the state or political subdivision thereof
24 or any public authority, such information, including but not limited to
25 medical records, birth records, and any other information that will help
26 the department under this section to properly carry out its functions,
27 powers and duties.
28 5. The board shall, within eighteen months of convening, issue a final
29 report on its findings and recommendations to the governor, speaker of
30 the assembly, and temporary president of the senate. The board shall
31 post a copy of such report on the department's website.
32 6. The board shall keep confidential any information collected or
33 received under this section that includes personal identifying informa-
34 tion of the birthing person, health care practitioner or practitioners
35 or anyone else individually named in such information, as well as the
36 hospital or facility that treated the birthing person, and any other
37 information such as geographic location that may inadvertently identify
38 the birthing person, practitioner or facility, and shall use the infor-
39 mation provided or received under this section solely for the purposes
40 of improvement of the quality of maternal health care.
41 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
