26:6C-9 Reports.

9. a. Within one year after its organization, and annually thereafter, the committee shall prepare, and submit to the Department of Health, to the Governor, and, pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1), to the Legislature, a report containing the committee's findings on the rates and causes of maternal deaths occurring in the State during the preceding year, and providing recommendations for legislative or other action that can be undertaken to: (a) improve the quality of maternal care and reduce adverse maternal outcomes in the State; (b) increase the availability of, and improve access to, social and health care services for pregnant women; and (c) reduce or eliminate racial and other disparities in maternal care and treatment, both during, and in the year after, pregnancy. Each annual report, with the exception of the first report prepared under this section, shall additionally identify the extent to which the committee's prior recommendations have been successfully implemented in practice, and the apparent impact that the implementation of such recommended changes has had on maternal care in the preceding year.

b. The report that is annually prepared pursuant to this section shall be based on:

(1) the case summaries that were prepared by the committee over the preceding year, pursuant to subsection b. of section 8 of this act;

(2) the statistical data that was forwarded to the committee, during the preceding year, by the Maternal Data Center, pursuant to section 14 of this act; and

(3) any other relevant information, including information from the committee's prior annual reports, or information on any collaborative maternal health arrangements that have been established by health care providers, professional organizations, local government units, or other relevant actors or entities in the preceding year, in response to the committee outreach authorized by subsection c. of section 8 of this act, or by paragraph (9) of subsection a. of section 6, of this act.

c. Upon receipt of the committee's annual report pursuant to this section, the department shall post a copy of the report at a publicly accessible location on its Internet website, and shall take appropriate steps to otherwise broadly publicize the committee's findings and recommendations. The Commissioner of Health shall also adopt rules and regulations, pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), to implement the recommendations contained in the report, to the extent that such recommendations can be implemented through administrative rule-making action.

L.2019, c.75, s.9.