Maternal Health Legislation Acted Upon by General Assembly

MEMORANDUM

The spring 2023 legislative session resulted in several pieces of legislation passed by the Illinois General Assembly addressing maternal health. This memo provides a summary of those Acts that include new requirements for hospitals.

P.A. 103-0160 – Maternal Milk Donation Education – This law, effective Jan. 1, 2024, requires hospitals with licensed obstetric beds and birth centers to provide information and instructional materials to parents of each newborn about the option to voluntarily donate milk to non-profit milk banks that are accredited by the Human Milk Banking Association of North America. Through IHA’s advocacy efforts, confusing language in the original legislation was clarified, the ability for hospitals to offer this material electronically was added to the enacted legislation, and hospitals without licensed obstetric beds were removed from this requirement. The Mothers’ Milk Bank of the Western Great Lakes has created a resource (in English and Spanish) that hospitals can provide, which fulfills the law’s requirement. Questions regarding the resources should be directed to Amber Barnes, Clinical Manager, at the Mothers’ Milk Bank at Amber@milkbankwgl.org.

P.A. 103-0169 – Training for Maternal Airway Emergencies – This law, effective June 30, 2023, requires healthcare facilities to include written policies and continuing education for addressing airway emergencies experienced during childbirth along with the management of severe hypertension and obstetric hemorrhage that was currently required. Through IHA’s advocacy efforts, language requiring hospitals to engage in annual education modules on these topics was removed. Applicable hospitals must still demonstrate compliance by having a written policy and providing continuing education to their staff on these three topics. Only hospitals with more than one licensed obstetric bed must comply with this requirement.

P.A. 103-0368 – Metachromatic Leukodystrophy Screening – This law, effective Jan. 1, 2024, creates a new test under the Newborn Metabolic Screening Act for metachromatic leukodystrophy. Under the law, the Illinois Dept. of Public Health (IDPH) will be required to test all newborns for metachromatic leukodystrophy within six months after certain milestones are met. The law also permits IDPH to assess a fee to hospitals for administering this screening test. Through IHA’s advocacy efforts, language was added to the Public Aid Code to provide for additional payment of this test to be covered by Medicaid for those babies born under the medical assistance program.

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