SB74 - AN ACT relating to public health.

5 Co-Sponsors

Amends KRS 18A.225 and 164.2871 to require the state employee health plan and self-insured state postsecondary education institution group health plans to comply with special enrollment and maternity coverage requirements; creates a new section of KRS Chapter 205 to require the Department for Medicaid Services and any managed care organization with which the department contracts for the delivery of Medicaid services to provide coverage for lactation consultation and breastfeeding equipment, to require the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to apply for a Medicaid waiver if potential cost defrayment or loss of federal funds is identified, and to require the cabinet to study doula certification programs nationally; amends new sections of KRS Chapter 205 and KRS 304.17A-145 to define “in-home program” and “telehealth” and to establish health insurance coverage for an in-home program and telehealth services; amends KRS 205.522 to require Medicaid coverage of maternity services; amends KRS 205.592 to allow that the Medicaid income limit for certain women and children be increased under certain circumstances; amends KRS 205.6485 to require that the Kentucky Children’s Health Insurance Program provide maternity coverage; creates a new section of KRS Chapter 211 to establish the Kentucky Maternal Psychiatry Access Program (also known as the Kentucky Lifeline for Moms), to establish duties and responsibilities of the program, and to direct that the program be operated by the Department for Public Health, Division of Maternal and Child Health; amends KRS 211.122 to rename the collaborative panel related to maternal and infant health as the Kentucky Maternal and Infant Health Collaborative, to establish formal membership of the collaborative, and to require that the collaborative annually review the operations of the new Kentucky Maternal Psychiatry Access Program; amends KRS 211.575 to change the date of the required annual report of the statewide system for stroke response and treatment to September 1 of each year; amends KRS 211.684 to delete the definitions of “local child and maternal fatality response team” and “state child and maternal fatality review team,” to permit the Department for Public Health to establish a separate state child fatality review team, to provide that the team may include representatives of law enforcement agencies with investigation responsibilities for child fatalities and the Commonwealth’s and county attorney offices, to permit rather than require the development of local child fatality response teams, to delete inclusion of “maternal” in local teams, to require that state review teams cooperate with the External Child Fatality and Near Fatality Review Panel, to require that the department establish a state maternal fatality review team, to provide that the state maternal fatality review team may include representatives of public health, social services, law enforcement, coroners, health care providers, and other agencies or professions deemed appropriate, to establish the duties of the state maternal fatality review team, to permit separate reports for the state child fatality review team and the state maternal fatality review team, and to add protections for proceedings, records, opinions, and deliberations of the state child fatality review team and the maternal fatality review team; amends KRS 211.686 to delete the inclusion of “maternal” in local teams, to require that the cabinet use health data collected pursuant to KRS 216.2920 to 216.2929 for annual delivery reports, and to permit the use of other sources if necessary; amends KRS 211.689 to change the definition of “home visitation” and “home visitation program,” and to make technical changes; amends KRS 211.690 to allow submission of an electronic agreement for the Health Access Nurturing Development Services (HANDS) program, to require that the program provide information related to lactation consultation, breastfeeding, and safe sleep for babies, and to establish that program participants shall participate in the home visitation program through in-person face-to-face methods or through teleservice delivery methods; amends KRS 213.046 to change the reference from “local registrar” to “state registrar” and to change a timeline for submission from 10 days to five days related to birth certificates; amends KRS 216.2929 to require that the cabinet report methods of delivery by hospital annually on its website beginning December 1, 2024; creates a new section of Subtitle 17A of KRS Chapter 304 to require that insurers and any exchange provide a special enrollment period for pregnant individuals, to specify requirements for the coverage, and to require that group plan insurers provide notice of special enrollment rights; amends KRS 304.17A-145 to require health benefit plans that provide coverage for dependents to provide coverage for maternity care; amends KRS 304.17A-220 and 194A.099 to conform with the special enrollment requirement; and amends KRS 387.540, related to individuals who compile an interdisciplinary report, to add an employee of the cabinet with relevant expertise; EFFECTIVE, in part, January 1, 2025.