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| 2 | 2 | | HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 749 FILED ON: 1/17/2023 |
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| 3 | 3 | | HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 2187 |
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| 4 | 4 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 5 | 5 | | _________________ |
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| 6 | 6 | | PRESENTED BY: |
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| 7 | 7 | | Patricia A. Haddad |
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| 8 | 8 | | _________________ |
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| 9 | 9 | | To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General |
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| 10 | 10 | | Court assembled: |
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| 11 | 11 | | The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill: |
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| 12 | 12 | | An Act relative to conducting fetal and infant mortality review. |
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| 13 | 13 | | _______________ |
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| 14 | 14 | | PETITION OF: |
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| 15 | 15 | | NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :DATE ADDED:Patricia A. Haddad5th Bristol1/17/2023Carole A. Fiola6th Bristol2/7/2023 1 of 2 |
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| 16 | 16 | | HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 749 FILED ON: 1/17/2023 |
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| 17 | 17 | | HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 2187 |
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| 18 | 18 | | By Representative Haddad of Somerset, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 2187) of |
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| 19 | 19 | | Patricia A. Haddad and Carole A. Fiola relative to conducting fetal and infant mortality review. |
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| 20 | 20 | | Public Health. |
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| 21 | 21 | | [SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION |
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| 22 | 22 | | SEE HOUSE, NO. 2312 OF 2021-2022.] |
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| 23 | 23 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 24 | 24 | | _______________ |
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| 25 | 25 | | In the One Hundred and Ninety-Third General Court |
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| 26 | 26 | | (2023-2024) |
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| 27 | 27 | | _______________ |
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| 28 | 28 | | An Act relative to conducting fetal and infant mortality review. |
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| 29 | 29 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority |
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| 30 | 30 | | of the same, as follows: |
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| 31 | 31 | | 1 SECTION 1. Chapter 38 of the general laws is hereby amended by inserting after section |
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| 32 | 32 | | 22A the following section: -- |
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| 33 | 33 | | 3 Section 2B. As used in this section, the term below shall have the following meaning: - |
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| 34 | 34 | | 4 “Authorized local health agency”, shall mean a health board, department, or other |
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| 35 | 35 | | 5governmental entity that is authorized by the department of public health to receive timely data |
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| 36 | 36 | | 6relative to fetal and infant deaths for assessing, planning, improving and monitoring the service |
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| 37 | 37 | | 7systems and community resources that support child and maternal health. |
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| 38 | 38 | | 8 The department of public health shall establish a process for designating authorized local |
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| 39 | 39 | | 9health agencies. This process may include reasonable criteria regarding the level of expertise, 2 of 2 |
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| 40 | 40 | | 10workforce capacity, or organizational capacity. Authorized local health agencies shall be |
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| 41 | 41 | | 11authorized to conduct in-depth fetal infant mortality review of each individual infant and fetal |
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| 42 | 42 | | 12death occurring within their jurisdiction, in order to identify local factors associated with fetal |
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| 43 | 43 | | 13and infant deaths and inform public health policy programs. |
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| 44 | 44 | | 14 For each case of fetal or infant death to be reviewed, authorized local health agencies are |
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| 45 | 45 | | 15hereby authorized to collect relevant data from a variety of sources, which may include physician |
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| 46 | 46 | | 16and hospital records in addition to relevant community program records. Authorized local health |
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| 47 | 47 | | 17agencies are authorized to collect, and the department is authorized to provide, timely access to |
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| 48 | 48 | | 18vital records and other data reasonably necessary for fetal and infant mortality review. |
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| 49 | 49 | | 19 The department may issue additional guidance through policy or regulation, consistent |
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| 50 | 50 | | 20with this section, regarding the process for conducting fetal infant mortality reviews by |
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| 51 | 51 | | 21authorized local health agencies, which may include guidance from the National Fetal and Infant |
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| 52 | 52 | | 22Mortality Review Program. |
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