New York State Assembly Passes Bill to Create Maternal Mortality Review Board

0
1060
New York State Assembly logo

The New York State Assembly aims to find out the causes of maternal mortality and ways to improve the health of pregnant women across the state.

To achieve this goal, the Assembly passed a bill (A.3276) authorizing the creation of a Maternal Mortality Review Board. It will be responsible for closely examining maternal deaths across the state. The Board will be composed of health professionals and other experts who serve and are representative of the diversity of women and mothers in medically underserved areas of the state with disproportionately high rates of maternal mortality or morbidity.

The legislation also authorizes the establishment of an advisory council responsible for reviewing the Board’s findings prevent maternal mortality and developing strategies to improve health outcomes for pregnant women and new mothers.

Governor Andrew Cuomo is expected to approve the bill. Last year, the governor launched a comprehensive initiative to target maternal mortality and reduce racial disparities in health outcome.

An important step to address maternal mortality

In a statement, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said they recognize the “seriousness of the disparities that exist in health outcomes for pregnant women in New York.