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AN ACT relating to maternal health. 1
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky: 2
Section 1. KRS 211.684 is amended to read as follows: 3
(1) For the purposes of KRS Chapter 211: 4
(a) "Child fatality" means the death of a person under the age of eighteen (18) 5
years; 6
(b) "Local child and maternal fatality response team" and "local team" means a 7
community team composed of representatives of agencies, offices, and 8
institutions that investigate child and maternal deaths, including but not 9
limited to, coroners, social service workers, medical professionals, law 10
enforcement officials, and Commonwealth's and county attorneys;[ and] 11
(c) "Maternal fatality" means the death of a woman within one (1) year of giving 12
birth; and 13
(d) "State child and maternal fatality review team" or "state team" means a 14
statewide team composed of representatives of public health, social services, 15
law enforcement, prosecution, coroners, health-care providers, and other 16
agencies or professions deemed appropriate by the commissioner of the 17
Department for Public Health. 18
(2) The Department for Public Health shall[may] establish a state child and maternal 19
fatality review team.[ The state team may include representatives of public health, 20
social services, law enforcement, prosecution, coroners, health-care providers, and 21
other agencies or professions deemed appropriate by the commissioner of the 22
department]. 23
(3) [If a state team is created, ]The duties of the state team shall[may] include but not 24
be limited to the following: 25
(a) Develop and distribute a model protocol for local child and maternal fatality 26
response teams for the investigation of child and maternal fatalities; 27 UNOFFICIAL COPY 24 RS BR 82
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(b) Facilitate the development of local child and maternal fatality response teams 1
which may include, but is not limited to, providing joint training opportunities 2
and, upon request, providing technical assistance; 3
(c) Review and approve local protocols prepared and submitted by local teams; 4
(d) Receive data and information on child and maternal fatalities and analyze the 5
information to identify trends, patterns, and risk factors; 6
(e) Evaluate the effectiveness of prevention and intervention strategies adopted; 7
and 8
(f) Recommend changes in state programs, legislation, administrative 9
regulations, policies, budgets, and treatment and service standards which may 10
facilitate strategies for prevention and reduce the number of child and 11
maternal fatalities. 12
(4) The department shall prepare an annual report to be submitted no later than 13
November 1 of each year to the Governor, the Interim Joint Committee on Families 14
and Children, the Interim Joint Committee on Health Services, the Chief Justice of 15
the Kentucky Supreme Court, and to be made available to the citizens of the 16
Commonwealth. The report shall include a statistical analysis, including but not 17
limited to Medicaid, Kentucky Children's Health Insurance Program, or other 18
health benefit coverage,[that includes the demographics of] race, 19
ethnicity[income], and geography, of the incidence and causes of child and 20
maternal fatalities in the Commonwealth during the past fiscal year and 21
recommendations for action. The report shall not include any information which 22
would identify specific child and maternal fatality cases. 23
Section 2. KRS 216.2929 is amended to read as follows: 24
(1) (a) The Cabinet for Health and Family Services shall make available on its 25
website information on charges for health-care services at least annually in 26
understandable language with sufficient explanation to allow consumers to 27 UNOFFICIAL COPY 24 RS BR 82
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draw meaningful comparisons between every hospital and ambulatory facility, 1
differentiated by payor if relevant, and for other provider groups as relevant 2
data becomes available. 3
(b) Any charge information compiled and reported by the cabinet shall include 4
the median charge and other percentiles to describe the typical charges for all 5
of the patients treated by a provider and the total number of patients 6
represented by all charges, and shall be risk-adjusted. 7
(c) The report shall clearly identify the sources of data used in the report and 8
explain limitations of the data and why differences between provider charges 9
may be misleading. Every provider that is specifically identified in any report 10
shall be given thirty (30) days to verify the accuracy of its data prior to public 11
release and shall be afforded the opportunity to submit comments on its data 12
that shall be included on the website and as part of any printed report of the 13
data. 14
(d) The cabinet shall only provide linkages to organizations that publicly report 15
comparative-charge data for Kentucky providers using data for all patients 16
treated regardless of payor source, which may be adjusted for outliers, is risk-17
adjusted, and meets the requirements of paragraph (c) of this subsection. 18
(2) (a) The cabinet shall make information available on its website at least annually 19
describing quality and outcome measures in understandable language with 20
sufficient explanations to allow consumers to draw meaningful comparisons 21
between every hospital and ambulatory facility in the Commonwealth and 22
other provider groups as relevant data becomes available. 23
(b) 1. The cabinet shall utilize only national quality indicators that have been 24
endorsed and adopted by the Agency for Healthcare Research and 25
Quality, the National Quality Forum, or the Centers for Medicare and 26
Medicaid Services; or 27 UNOFFICIAL COPY 24 RS BR 82
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2. The cabinet shall provide linkages only to the following organizations 1
that publicly report quality and outcome measures on Kentucky 2
providers: 3
a. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; 4
b. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; 5
c. The Joint Commission; and 6
d. Other organizations that publicly report relevant outcome data for 7
Kentucky providers. 8
(c) The cabinet shall utilize or refer the general public to only those nationally 9
endorsed quality indicators that are based upon current scientific evidence or 10
relevant national professional consensus and have definitions and calculation 11
methods openly available to the general public at no charge. 12
(3) Any report the cabinet disseminates or refers the public to shall: 13
(a) Not include data for a provider whose caseload of patients is insufficient to 14
make the data a reliable indicator of the provider's performance; 15
(b) Meet the requirements of subsection (1)(c) of this section; 16
(c) Clearly identify the sources of data used in the report and explain the 17
analytical methods used in preparing the data included in the report; and 18
(d) Explain any limitations of the data and how the data should be used by 19
consumers. 20
(4) The cabinet shall report at least biennially, no later than October 1 of each odd-21
numbered year, on the special health needs of the minority population in the 22
Commonwealth as compared to the population in the Commonwealth as compared 23
to the population at large. The report shall contain an overview of the health status 24
of minority Kentuckians, shall identify the diseases and conditions experienced at 25
disproportionate mortality and morbidity rates within the minority population, and 26
shall make recommendations to meet the identified health needs of the minority 27 UNOFFICIAL COPY 24 RS BR 82
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population. 1
(5) Beginning December 1, 2024, and at least annually thereafter, the Cabinet for 2
Health and Family Services shall publish a report on its website for the most 3
recent five (5) years of available data on the number and types of delivery 4
procedures for pregnancy by hospital, including but not limited to the following 5
procedures: 6
(a) Augmentation of labor; 7
(b) Cesarean section; 8
(c) Episiotomy; 9
(d) Induction of labor; 10
(e) Primary cesarean section; 11
(f) Nulliparous, term, singleton, vertex (NTSV) cesarean section; 12
(g) Use of forceps; 13
(h) Use of vacuum; 14
(i) Vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC); and 15
(j) Vaginal delivery. 16
The cabinet may use multiple sources to obtain this data including data derived 17
from birth certificates. 18
(6) The reports[report] required under subsections[subsection] (4) and (5) of this 19
section shall be submitted to the Interim Joint Committees on Appropriations and 20
Revenue, Families and Children, and Health Services and to the Governor. 21