NY Pub Health L § 2509 (2021)
2021 New York Laws PBH - Public Health Article 25 - Maternal and Child Health Title 1 - General Provisions 2509 - Maternal Mortality Review Board.

§  2509.  Maternal  mortality  review  board.  1.  (a) There is hereby established in the department the maternal mortality  review  board  for the  purpose  of  reviewing  maternal  deaths and maternal morbidity and developing  and  disseminating  findings,  recommendations,   and   best practices  to  contribute  to  the  prevention of maternal mortality and morbidity. The board shall assess the cause of death, factors leading to death and preventability for each maternal death reviewed  and,  in  the discretion  of  the board, cases of severe maternal morbidity, and shall develop and disseminate strategies for reducing  the  risk  of  maternal mortality and morbidity, including risk resulting from racial, economic, or  other  disparities.  The  commissioner may delegate the authority to conduct maternal mortality reviews.  (b) The commissioner may enter into an agreement with the city of  New York providing:  (i)  that the functions of the state board relating to maternal deaths and severe maternal morbidity occurring within  the  city  of  New  York shall be conducted by the city board;  (ii)  the  city  board shall provide to the state board the results of its reviews, relevant information in the possession of the  city  board, and the recommendations of the city board; and  (iii) the department and the state board shall provide information and assistance to the city board for the performance of its functions.  (c)  Nothing  in  this section shall prevent the city of New York from establishing, without  an  agreement  with  the  commissioner,  a  board relating  to  maternal  deaths  and  severe maternal morbidity occurring within the city of New York.   2. As used in this section, unless the context requires otherwise:  (a) "Advisory council" and "council"  mean  the  advisory  council  on maternal mortality and morbidity, established under this section.  (b)  "Board"  means  a  maternal mortality review board established by this section, referred to in this section as the  "state  board",  or  a board  operating under this section established by the city of New York, with or without an agreement with the commissioner, referred to in  this section as the "city board".  (c)  "Maternal  death"  means the death of a woman during pregnancy or within a year from the end of pregnancy.  (d)  "Severe  maternal  morbidity"  or  "morbidity"  means  unexpected outcomes  of  pregnancy,  labor,  or delivery that result in significant short- or long-term consequences to a woman's health.  (e) "City commissioner" means the commissioner of the  New  York  city department of health and mental hygiene.   3.  (a)  The  members  of  the  state  board  shall  be  comprised  of multidisciplinary experts in the field of  maternal  mortality,  women's health and public health, and shall include health care professionals or other  experts  who  serve and are representative of the racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic diversity of the women and mothers of the  state  and, to  the extent possible, the medically underserved areas of the state or areas of the state with disproportionately high occurrences of  maternal mortality or morbidity.  (b) The state board shall be composed of at least fifteen members, all of whom shall be appointed by the commissioner.  (c)  The  terms  of  the state board members shall be three years. The commissioner may choose to reappoint state board members  to  additional three year terms.  (d) A majority of the appointed membership of the state board, no less than three, shall constitute a quorum.  (e)  When  any  member  of  the  state  board  fails  to  attend three consecutive regular meetings, unless such absence  is  for  good  cause,  that  membership may be deemed vacant for purposes of the appointment of a successor.  (f)  Meetings  of  the state board shall be held at least twice a year but may be held more frequently as deemed necessary, subject to  request of the department.  (g)  Members  of  the state and city boards shall be indemnified under section seventeen of the public officers law or section fifty-k  of  the general municipal law, as the case may be.  (h)  Members  of  the  state  board shall not be compensated for their participation on the board but shall  receive  reimbursement  for  their ordinary and necessary expenses of participation.  (i) Membership on a board shall not disqualify any person from holding any public office or employment.   4.  (a)  The  commissioner  may request and shall receive upon request from any department, division, board, bureau, commission,  local  health departments  or  other  agency  of  the  state  or political subdivision thereof or any public authority, such  information,  including  but  not limited  to  death records, medical records, autopsy reports, toxicology reports,  hospital  discharge  records,  birth  records  and  any  other information that will help the department under this section to properly carry  out  its  functions,  powers and duties. The commissioner, or the city  commissioner  for  the  maternal  deaths  or  maternal   morbidity occurring  within the vital statistics registration district of the city of New York  may  request  and  shall  receive  upon  request  from  any department,  division,  board,  commission  or  other  agency  under the authority of the city of New  York  as  well  as  hospitals  established pursuant  to  article twenty-eight of this chapter, birthing facilities, medical  examiners,  coroners  and  coroner  physicians  and  any  other facility  providing  services  associated  with  maternal  mortality  or maternal morbidity, such information, including,  but  not  limited  to, death  records,  medical  records,  autopsy reports, toxicology reports, hospital discharge records, birth records and any other information that will help the department under this section to properly  carry  out  its functions, powers and duties.  (b)  The  commissioner and the city commissioner shall receive and may solicit voluntary information, including  oral  or  written  statements, relating  to  any  maternal death and case of severe maternal morbidity, from any family member or other interested party (including the  patient in  a  case  of severe maternal morbidity) relating to any case that may come before the board. Oral statements  received  under  this  paragraph shall  be transcribed or summarized in writing. The commissioner and the city  commissioner  shall  transmit  that  information  to   the   board considering the case.  (c) Before transmitting any information to the board, the commissioner or   the   city  commissioner  shall  remove  all  personal  identifying information of the woman, health care practitioner or  practitioners  or anyone  else  individually  named  in  such  information, as well as the hospital or facility that treated the woman, and any  other  information such  as  geographic location that may inadvertently identify the woman, practitioner  or  facility.  This  paragraph  shall  not  preclude   the transmitting of information to the board that is reasonably necessary to enable the board to perform an appropriate review under this section.   5. Each board:  (a)  shall  make  and  report  findings  and  recommendations  to  the commissioner, and in the case of the city board to the commissioner  and the  city  commissioner regarding the cause of death, factors leading to death, and preventability of each maternal death case, and each case  of severe  maternal  morbidity reviewed by the board, by reviewing relevant  information for each case in the state or the city of New York,  as  the case  may  be,  and  consulting  with  experts as needed to evaluate the information  for  each  death;  and  shall  provide  such  findings  and recommendations,  including  best  practices and strategies for reducing the risk of maternal mortality and morbidity, to the  advisory  council; provided  that  material  provided  to  the  advisory  council shall not include any information that would be confidential under this section;  (b) shall develop recommendations to the commissioner, and in the case of the city board to the commissioner  and  the  city  commissioner  for areas of focus, including issues of severe maternal morbidity and issues of racial, economic or other disparities in maternal outcomes;  (c)  may,  in  addition to the findings and recommendations made under this subdivision, and consistent  with  all  applicable  confidentiality protections,  bring  any  particular  matter  to  the  attention  of the commissioner or the city commissioner, and in the case of the city board to the commissioner and the city commissioner;  (d) shall issue a report on its findings and recommendations every two years, and may also issue reports more frequently. The reports shall  be public documents; and  (e)  may  request and shall receive the assistance of the commissioner in the instance of the state board and  the  city  commissioner  in  the instance of the city board in carrying out its functions.   6.  The  commissioner and the city commissioner and the state and city boards  shall  each  keep  confidential  any  information  collected  or received   under   this   section  that  includes  personal  identifying information of the woman, health care practitioner or  practitioners  or anyone  else  individually  named  in  such  information, as well as the hospital or facility that treated the woman, and any  other  information such  as  geographic location that may inadvertently identify the woman, practitioner or facility, and shall  use  the  information  provided  or received  under  this  section solely for the purposes of improvement of the quality of health care of women and to  prevent  maternal  mortality and  morbidity.  This subdivision shall not preclude the transmitting of information to the board that is  reasonably  necessary  to  enable  the board  to  perform an appropriate review under this section. All records received, meetings conducted, reports, except those reports required  to be  issued by the board by this section, and records made and maintained and all books and papers obtained by the board shall be confidential and shall not be made open or available, including under article six of  the public  officers  law,  and shall be limited to board members as well as those  authorized  by  the  commissioner  or  city  commissioner.   Such information  shall  not be discoverable or admissible as evidence in any action in any court or before  any  other  tribunal,  board,  agency  or person.   7. The commissioner and the city commissioner, within their respective legal  authority, may use the recommendations and findings of the boards to develop guidance and other actions relating to  best  practices,  and shall  disseminate  information  relating  to  that  guidance  and other actions to appropriate health care providers.   8. (a) There is hereby  established  in  the  department  an  advisory council on maternal mortality and morbidity.  (b) The advisory council:  (i) may review the findings of the boards;  (ii)  may  develop  recommendations  on  policies, best practices, and strategies to prevent maternal mortality and morbidity;  (iii) may hold public hearings on those matters;  (iv) may make findings and issue reports, including an annual  report, on such matters; and  (v)  may request and shall receive the assistance of the commissioner, the city commissioner, and the boards in carrying out its functions.  (c)  The  advisory council shall consist of at least twenty members to be determined by the commissioner. The commissioner  shall  appoint  the members  of  the  council,  at  least  ten  of  whom  shall  be  on  the recommendation of the city commissioner. The commissioner shall  appoint the chair of the council.  (d) The members of the council shall be comprised of multidisciplinary experts   and  lay  persons  knowledgeable  in  the  field  of  maternal mortality, women's health and public health and  shall  include  members who   serve   and   are   representative  of  the  racial,  ethnic,  and socioeconomic diversity of the women and mothers of the  state,  and  to the  extent  possible,  the  medically underserved areas of the state or areas of the state with disproportionately high occurrences of  maternal mortality or morbidity.  (e)  The  terms  of  the  council  members  shall  be three years. The commissioner may choose  to  reappoint  council  members  to  additional three-year   terms.   Vacancies  on  the  council  shall  be  filled  by appointment by the commissioner, consistent with paragraph (c)  of  this subdivision. A majority of the appointed membership of the council shall constitute  a  quorum.  When  any  member of the council fails to attend three consecutive regular meetings, unless  such  absence  is  for  good cause,  that  membership  may  be  deemed  vacant  for  purposes  of the appointment of a successor.  (f) Meetings of the council shall be held at least twice a year.  (g)  Members  of  the  council  shall  be  indemnified  under  section seventeen  of  the public officers law. Members of the council shall not be compensated for their participation on the council but shall  receive reimbursement   for   their   ordinary   and   necessary   expenses   of participation. Membership on the council shall not disqualify any person from holding any public office or employment.