Int. No. 914
By Council Members Rosenthal, Cumbo, Rivera, Chin, Ampry-Samuel, Levine, Ayala, Levin, Lander and Cohen
A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to reporting on maternal mortality
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1. Section 17-199.3 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended to read as follows:
§ 17-199.3 Maternal mortality annual report. a. For purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:
Maternal health. The term “maternal health” means the health of [women] a person during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period.
Maternal mortality. The term “maternal mortality” means the death of a person while pregnant or within 42 days of the termination of pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management.
b. No later than September 30, 2017, and not later than September 30 annually thereafter, the department shall submit to the speaker and publish in a machine-readable format in the annual summary of vital statistics the most recent calendar year data available regarding maternal mortality in New York City, to the extent such data is made available to the department, on an individual-person level, anonymized to comply with privacy considerations, including but not limited to the health insurance portability and accountability act (HIPAA), including, but not be limited to:
[1. The number of maternal mortalities, disaggregated by race or ethnicity and borough of residence;]
1. The total number of live births; and the total number of maternal mortalities disaggregated by information about the pregnant person or mother, including but not limited to: race or ethnicity; location where such person or mother resided by census block and tract; location(s) where such person or mother received pregnancy-related care by census block and tract; employment status; whether such person or mother was uninsured or utilized health insurance other than medicaid, medicaid or other family planning services; whether such person or mother saw a doula; whether such person or mother visited a midwife or other licensed medical professional for obstetrics or pregnancy-related care; number of prenatal visits; any previous health complications; whether the person or mother died, and if so, whether such person or mother’s death was pregnancy-related or pregnancy-associated and, if pregnancy-related or pregnancy-associated, the cause of death; whether the person or mother experienced a severe maternal morbidity event and, if so, the type of event; whether such person is a first time mother; whether the fetus or infant died; and borough of residence;
2. The maternal mortality ratio, disaggregated by race or ethnicity and borough of residence where available and statistically reliable;
3. Recommendations regarding actions the department, the mayor, and the [Council] council can take to improve maternal health, particularly in disproportionately impacted communities; [and] reduce maternal mortality; and enhance cooperation between other city agencies that have a mandate related to maternal health, including but not limited to the commission on gender equity; and
4. An update on the implementation of the recommendations made in previous reports made pursuant to this section regarding actions that the department or mayor can take to improve maternal health and reduce maternal mortality, if any.
5. In the development of reports made pursuant to this section, the department shall consult any review or assessment produced by the committee established in section 17-199.3.1.
§ 2. Chapter 1 of title 17 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new section 17-199.3.1, to follow 17-199.3, to read as follows:
§17-199.3.1 Maternal mortality and morbidity review committee (M3RC). a. The department shall create a committee on maternal mortality and morbidity to, at a minimum, study the nature and extent of maternal mortality; study the impact of factors including but not limited to pre-natal care, doulas, economic, civic, and social well-being, and race on pregnant persons and mothers as it relates to maternal mortality; advise on ways to analyze complications experienced by expectant parents and mothers and ways to develop equitable strategies to respond to them; and to make recommendations to the mayor and the council for the reduction of maternal mortality and morbidity. Members of the committee shall represent a multi-disciplinary panel of representatives, including but not limited to representatives from various healthcare facilities, community based organizations with relevant experience, the doula community, researchers with relevant experience, and first responders.
§ 3. This local law takes effect 90 days after it becomes law.
AB/BM
LS # 6548
5/3/2018 5:20 pm