BILL ANALYSIS

Senate Research Center	C.S.H.B. 852
88R27374 LRM-D	By: Thierry; Oliverson (Kolkhorst)
	Health & Human Services
	5/4/2023
	Committee Report (Substituted)

AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT

The Texas Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee (committee) studies and reviews cases of pregnancy-related deaths and severe maternal morbidity to identify trends, rates, and disparities.

The committee then develops recommendations to reduce maternal morbidity in Texas. In September 2022, the committee and the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) delayed its report for further analysis until December 2022.

In the recommendations from the committee and the DSHS Joint Biennial Report from 2022, the committee specifically highlighted a need for new expertise on the committee that is not currently represented in support of data analysis and review. Specifically, the committee recommended the addition of new expertise such as an emergency medicine provider, cardiologist, and oncologist.

C.S.H.B. 852 seeks to address the recommendations set forth in 2022 by the committee by expanding the membership of the committee to include an additional community advocate, a managed care organization representative, and physicians specializing in emergency care, cardiology, anesthesiology, and oncology.

The committee substitute makes changes to the expansion of "community advocates" to serve on the board by changing "advocate" to "community member" and requiring the two new members to be from an urban county and a rural county respectively.

The bill expands the requirement that community members appointed to the committee have relevant experience with multidisciplinary teams or analysis of maternal health.

C.S.H.B. 852 amends current law relating to the composition of the Texas Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

This bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency.

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1. Amends Section 34.002(b), Health and Safety Code, as follows:

(b) Provides that the Texas Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee (review committee) is a multidisciplinary advisory committee within the Department of State Health Services and is composed of the following 23, rather than 17, members:

(1) 21, rather than 15, members appointed by the commissioner of state health services (commissioner) as follows:

(A)-(I) makes no changes to these paragraphs;

(J)� two community members with experience in a relevant health care field, including a field involving the analysis of health care data, one of whom is required to represent an urban area of this state and one of whom is required to represent a rural area of this state, rather than one community advocate in a relevant field;

(K) makes a nonsubstantive change to this paragraph;

(L) makes no changes to this paragraph;

(M) one physician specializing in emergency care;

(N) one physician specializing in cardiology;

(O) one physician specializing in anesthesiology;

(P) one physician specializing in oncology; and

(Q) one representative of a managed care organization; and

(2)-(3) makes no changes to these subdivisions.

SECTION 2. Amends Section 34.003(a), Health and Safety Code, to provide that review committee members appointed by the commissioner serve staggered six-year terms, with one-third or as near as possible to one-third of the members' terms, rather than with the terms of four or five members as appropriate, expiring February 1 of each odd-numbered year.

SECTION 3. Effective date: September 1, 2023.