SB 5299 puts into place several measures to help promote healthy outcomes for pregnant women and infants:
(1) It requires that all health care facilities that provide newborn delivery services to medical assistance clients establish policies and procedures to provide: (a) Skin-to-skin placement of the newborn on the mother’s chest immediately following birth and (b) Room-in practices in which a newborn and a mother share the same room for the duration of their post-delivery stay at the facility.
(2) Directs employers to provide reasonable accommodations for pregnant women in the workplace.
(3) In collaboration with the department of health, department of social and health services, health carriers, local public health jurisdictions, children’s health care providers including pediatricians, family practitioners, and pediatric subspecialists, community and migrant health centers, parents, and other purchasers, shall establish a concise set of explicit performance measures that can indicate whether children enrolled in the program are receiving health care through an established and effective medical home, and whether the overall health of enrolled children is improving.
(4) The bill also establishes the healthy pregnancy advisory committee to develop a strategy for improving maternal and infant health outcomes.
