by Mia Maldonado and Kelcie Moseley-Morris, Idaho Capital Sun
January 16, 2024
The Idaho Legislature could be taking steps to once again track maternal mortality data across the state after becoming the only state in the U.S. that does not review maternal death information over the summer.
On Tuesday morning, Idaho House Majority Leader Megan Blanksma, R-Hammett, introduced legislation to the House Health and Welfare Committee that would authorize the Idaho Board of Medicine to collect and review maternal death data. The Maternal Mortality Review Committee, which expired in July after legislative inaction, was formed in 2019 to analyze maternal death data. The committee was composed of a family medicine physician, an OB-GYN, a social worker, a midwife and a coroner, among others who track deaths in Idaho that occur from pregnancy-related complications.
The committee was formed with the intent to learn from and prevent future maternal deaths, and it previously collected quantifiable information such as hospitalizations, vital statistics, autopsy reports and medical records that did not include personal information of patients. The committee’s final report used data from 2021, and since then, there has been no publicly available data on Idaho maternal mortality rates.
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Data between 2018 and 2021 showed a steady increase in deaths among pregnant women and new mothers across the state. The review committee identified 11 maternal deaths in 2020, up from five deaths in 2019 and 10 in 2018. In all but one case, the committee did not identify COVID-19 as a contributing factor, and all of the 2020 deaths were deemed preventable with more knowledge and continuity of care, according to the report. Nine of the 11 deaths were determined to be related to pregnancy, which means a cause related to or aggravated by pregnancy.
A death is considered maternal if it occurs during pregnancy and within one year after delivering a child.
House Bill 399 would update Idaho Code to authorize the Idaho Board of Medicine to collect and review information on maternal deaths, and it would require the board to provide an annual report on numbers of instances of maternal mortality to the Legislature. While Blanksma said during the bill introduction that the Idaho Board of Medicine has the authority to create subcommittees, it’s not required in the bill language for them to do so — it only gives the board the power to collect the data and assemble a report.
According to the legislation, the board would “have the power throughout the state of Idaho to require the production of all information relating to any incidence of maternal mortality.”
The House Health and Welfare Committee must hold a public hearing and pass the bill before it could be considered by the Idaho House of Representatives. A full committee hearing for the bill has not yet been scheduled.
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