OFFICE OF FISCAL ANALYSIS
Legislative Office Building, Room 5200
Hartford, CT 06106 (860) 240-0200
http://www.cga.ct.gov/ofa
sSB-986
AN ACT PROTECTING MATERNAL HEALTH.
As Amended by Senate "A" (LCO 8974)
Senate Calendar No.: 238
Primary Analyst: RDP 6/2/23
Contributing Analyst(s):
OFA Fiscal Note
State Impact: See below
Municipal Impact: None
Explanation
The bill results in various fiscal impacts identified by section below.
Other provisions of the amendment are not anticipated to result in a
fiscal impact to the state or municipalities.
Section 3 establishes Birth Center licensure of $940 per site and $7.5
per bed with a biennial renewal schedule, which results in a General
Fund revenue gain of $985 in FY 24. There is currently one Maternity
Hospital licensed by the Department of Public Health (DPH). It is the
Connecticut Childbirth & Women's Center in Danbury, and it is the only
facility to hold accreditation by the Commission for the Accreditation of
Birth Centers in Connecticut. It has six beds. It is anticipated to seek
Birth Center licensure in FY 24.
Section 7, which directs DPH to not grant or renew Maternity
Hospital licensure on and after 1/1/24, results in a General Fund
revenue loss of $985 in FY 24. CGS Sec. 19a-491 sets the biennial
licensure fee for Maternity Hospitals at of $940 per site and $7.5 per bed.
Section 10, which establishes a Public Health Infant Mortality Review
program in DPH, results in a cost to the agency of approximately
$90,970 in FY 24 and $96,444 in FY 25 and fringe benefit costs of 2023SB-00986-R01-FN.DOCX Page 2 of 2
approximately $38,953 in FY 24 and $41,297 in FY 25 for a Nurse
Consultant to study infant deaths and produce recommendations on
how to reduce them.
Section 14, which establishes doula certification for a fee of $100,
results in a revenue gain to the General Fund of approximately $5,000
in FY 24 and FY 25. It is anticipated that DPH's Practitioner Licensing
and Investigations Section can accommodate certification of
approximately 50 doulas annually with existing staff and resources.
Doula certification may be renewed every three years.
Section 16 results in a potential cost to the Office of Early Childhood
to establish a statewide universal nurse home visiting program, within
available appropriations. This section also allows the Department of
Social Services (DSS) to seek approval of an amendment to the Medicaid
state plan or waiver to provide coverage for universal nurse home
visiting services. This results in a cost to DSS to the extent that related
services are billed under Medicaid.
Senate "A" struck the language of the underlying bill, replacing it
with language resulting in various fiscal impacts, described above.
The Out Years
The annualized ongoing fiscal impact identified above would
continue into the future subject to inflation, changes to state employee
salaries and benefits, Birth Center licensure, doula certifications, and
establishment of a statewide universal nurse home visiting program.
The preceding Fiscal Impact statement is prepared for the benefit of the members of the General Assembly, solely
for the purposes of information, summarization and explanation and does not represent the intent of the General
Assembly or either chamber thereof for any purpose. In general, fiscal impacts are based upon a variety of
informational sources, including the analyst’s professional knowledge. Whenever applicable, agency data is
consulted as part of the analysis, however final products do not necessarily reflect an assessment from any
specific department.