Table of Contents
The following was submitted by the office of Sen. Jason Lewis:
State Sens. Jason Lewis and Pat Jehlen and state Reps. Michael Day and Michelle Ciccolo joined their colleagues in the Massachusetts Legislature to pass a comprehensive maternal health bill that creates a state licensure pathway for midwives and lactation consultants, encourages the creation of more freestanding birth centers, establishes a grant program to address maternal mental health and substance use disorder, and expands the statewide universal postpartum home visiting program.
This legislation also mandates that health insurers provide coverage for postpartum depression and major depressive disorder screenings for perinatal individuals.
“Access to affordable, high-quality healthcare should be a basic human right and even in Massachusetts there is more we can and must do to improve healthcare,” said Lewis. “This important legislation will significantly improve access to care and reduce racial disparities for new mothers and infants, and continue to make Massachusetts a national and global leader in reproductive healthcare.”
“Ensuring access to healthcare is a top priority. By licensing midwives, expanding coverage for pregnancy related conditions and even providing for sick time for pregnancy loss, we are making families stronger and healthier,” said Jehlen. “I am glad to see this bill signed so we can address the maternal healthcare crisis and expand access to high-quality care especially in marginalized communities.”
“Massachusetts has the best healthcare system in the United States, but we continue to grapple with a maternal mortality crisis that disproportionately affects expecting mothers based on the color of their skin,” said Day. “I was proud to support this bill that employs research-based methods to address these inequities while also increasing access to reproductive care for everyone.”
“New parents and infants, particularly those from already vulnerable populations, have often been underserved by our health care system,” said Ciccolo. “I was incredibly proud to vote for this bill which will provide essential tools and supports for those who need it most. I greatly appreciate all of the work done by my House and Senate colleagues to advance this excellent piece of legislation and look forward to its implementation.”
Key provisions in this new law include:
• Creating a state licensure pathway for certified professional midwives, and requiring certain insurance providers, such as MassHealth, to cover midwifery and doula services including prenatal care, childbirth, and postpartum care.
• Encouraging the creation of more freestanding birth centers, which operate independently from hospital systems, by requiring the Department of Public Health (DPH) to promulgate updated regulations governing the licensure of freestanding birth centers to ensure safe, accessible, and equitable birth options.
• Requiring that MassHealth cover noninvasive prenatal screenings to detect whether a pregnancy is at increased risk for chromosomal abnormalities for all pregnant women regardless of age, baseline risk, or family history.
• Requiring health insurers to cover medically necessary pasteurized donor human milk and products derived from it, serving as a critical source of nutrition for the growth and development of babies, particularly for vulnerable premature infants.
• Requiring DPH to conduct a public awareness campaign about perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, and to develop and maintain a digital resource center that will be available to the public.
• Requiring that perinatal individuals be offered a screening for postpartum depression and major depressive disorder, and that those services be covered by health insurance plans.
• Expanding the universal postpartum home visiting program administered by DPH and providing coverage for the program’s services to better address access barriers and reduce racial inequities in maternal health.
• Allowing Massachusetts residents to use their earned paid sick time in the event of a pregnancy loss.
• Establishing a grant program under the Executive Office of Health and Human Services aimed at addressing maternal mental health to support the creation or expansion of initiatives serving perinatal individuals, particularly those in underserved populations, to improve mental health and substance use disorder prevention and treatment.
• Establishing a task force to study the current availability of, and access to, maternal health services and care, as well as essential service closures of inpatient maternity units and acute-level birthing centers. The task force will identify methods of increasing financial investment in, and patient access to, maternal healthcare in the Commonwealth.
After final passage in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, the bill was signed into law by Gov. Maura Healey on Aug. 23, 2024.
