State lawmakers allowed previous committee to expire last year, and this is the second bill introduced this session to address the issue

by Clark Corbin, Idaho Capital Sun

Boise Republican Rep. Dori Healey is pushing for a new bill in the Idaho Legislature that would reestablish a maternal mortality review committee in state law. 

Last year, the Idaho Legislature allowed the state’s maternal mortality review committee to expire, leaving the state without publicly accessible data on maternal mortality rates. Before the maternal mortality committee expired and disbanded, data showed an increase in deaths among pregnant women and new mothers, the Idaho Capital Sun previously reported. 

The previous maternal mortality review committee’s final report from November showed Idaho’s maternal mortality rate was 40.1 deaths per 100,000 births in 2021, up from 18.1 deaths per 100,000 births in 2019. Among the old committee’s key findings was that 15 of the 16 women’s deaths it studied from 2021 were determined to be preventable. 

Healey, who works as an advanced practice registered nurse, is sponsoring House Bill 423 to reestablish a maternal mortality review committee in Idaho.

Second bill introduced to re-establish the state’s study of maternal mortality data

This isn’t the first effort during Idaho’s 2024 legislative session to resume collecting and analyzing maternal mortality data. On Jan. 16, the House Health and Welfare Committee voted to introduce House Bill 399, which would authorize the Board of Medicine to collect, review and report on maternal mortality data, the Sun previously reported. 

The new bill is different from House Bill 399 because the new bill would establish a dedicated maternal mortality review committee, not enlist the Board of Medicine to collect and review the data.

If passed into law, the new bill would create a committee of at least 14 people, including five licensed physicians, in the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare to conduct comprehensive reviews of maternal deaths in Idaho.

“This legislation amends Idaho Code 39 by adding a new Chapter 96, which will establish a maternal mortality review committee,” Healey said during the bill’s introductory hearing. “This committee will collect and review data concerning maternal mortality.”

If passed into law, the new maternal mortality review committee would provide an annual report on maternal mortality on June 30 each year. The bill is written so that if it is passed into law, the maternal mortality review committee would expire again on July 1, 2030.

Tuesday’s hearing on the new maternal mortality review committee bill was only an introductory hearing and did not include any public testimony or debate among committee members. 

Committee members voted to introduce the new bill Tuesday without any debate. Introducing the new bill clears the way for it to return to the House Health and Welfare Committee for a full public hearing.

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